Padma Bridge Rail Link Project extends by one year

Staff Reporter :
The Padma Bridge Rail Connectivity Project has been extended by one more year.

However, the expenditure will remain the same .

The project extension was approved by the Planning Commission on Thursday.

Earlier, the Planning Division of the Ministry of Railways sent a proposal in this regard to the Planning Commission on Wednesday.

According to the Planning Commission, the implementation period of the Padma Bridge Rail Link was from January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2024.

Instead, the period has been extended by one more year until June 30, 2025.

On the other hand, Bangladesh Railways said that the progress of the project has exceeded 90 percent.

But some work remains.

It will not be possible to implement the project by the deadline of May 4, 2024.

Considering the rate of expenditure from project assistance in the previous years, it can be seen that 2 thousand 9 crore taka will be spent within 10 months ahead of schedule.

According to the information provided by Bangladesh Railway, in that case, the project assistance of Tk 1 thousand 910 crore and 43 lakh during the loan availability period will not be spent within the stipulated time.

Therefore, if the loan availability period is not extended as per the terms of the agreement, the money allocated for the remaining work will not be able to be spent.

According to sources concerned, there is a delay in land acquisition and relocation of utility lines in the Dhaka-Mawa and Bhanga-Jessore sections.

Besides, changes have been made to the plan, like the construction of a railway underpass instead of a level crossing at Tularampur and T. T para points.

As to the project status report, the project has made 82 percent progress up to August.

The Padma Bridge Rail Link project was approved on May 3, 2016. At that time, its construction cost was estimated to be around Tk 34 thousand 989 crores. On May 22, 2018, when the project proposal was revised, the cost increased to Tk 39 crore. Exim Bank of China is financing 24 thousand 749 crore 4 lakh taka.

An official related to the project said that the project has been extended for one year.

There are some works remaining that will be completed during this term.

The work on the broken railway junction is still pending, and some work on the T. T para underpass is also pending.

However, the cost of the project will not increase even if the duration increases. Trains will run on this route as before.