Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The national economy has been counting huge loss per year due to delay in implementing the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project.
Roads and Highways Department (RHD), has so far completed 57 per cent only of construction work of the 192-kilometer long road project till September 30 this year despite extension of time twice, officials said.
They said, the time extension is not only raising the project cost but it is also affecting the national economy.
The construction work which started in 2010 was supposed to be completed by December 2013.
The extension of time twice of the implementation of the Dhaka-Chittagong four-lane project has increased the cost by Tk 808 crore. At the beginning of the construction work in 2010, it was Tk 2,382 crore, while the revised cost now stands at Tk3,190 crore.RHD, the execution authority of the project, has recently completed an assessment regarding the economic impact considering various aspects of the poor physical progress of the project. The assessment report said, the national economy has been counting loss of Tk10,000 crore every year due to delay in completion of the country’s mega infrastructure project.
The economic cost has been calculated considering the loss of time of motorists and passengers, delay in sending export consignments to Chittagong port, environment pollution resulted from burning extra fuel by the motor vehicles, repairs and replacements of spare parts and accidents due to slow traffic movement on the highway.
It also said that it took four to five hours to reach Chittagong from Dhaka 20 years ago when around 10,000 vehicles used to ply on the highway per day. Now, it takes 8-10 hours to cover the same distance due to increased traffic and the ongoing construction work. The number of transports using the Dhaka-Chittagong is about 50,000 per day. The motorists and passengers have to spend additional 3-5 hours per trip everyday on the congested highway affecting the national economy, it said.
Businesses, mainly the exporters, have to bear 50 per cent of the losses as they are forced to pay extra fare to the transport companies because of longer time in journey and sending of consignment by air. “As a result, they traders incur a loss of Tk 5000 crore per year,” it said.
On the other hand, loss of Tk1000 crore has been calculated for wastage of time, Tk 2000 crore for burning of extra fuel, Tk1000 crore for polluting environment, Tk 570 crore for damage of vehicles and repairs and replacements of spare parts to them, Tk 300 crore for health hazard of passengers and Tk 100 crore for other reasons.
“We are frustrated by the slow progress of the 4-lane project because such a delay has raised our trasportation cost significantly,” Abdus Salam Murshedy, President of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) told The New Nation yesterday He said, the additional cost is a burden for us and produces the negative impact to the country’s export sector.
The delay in construction causes traffic congestion on the highway affecting smooth cargo movement from Dhaka to the port city, he said.
The EAB leader mentioned that the highway is the lifeline of Bangladesh economy as 80 per cent of the country’s total import and export trade takes place by this highway. Considering the importance of it, the government should take initiative to complete the construction work as soon as possible, he added.
Officials said, technical glitches, change of consultants and project directors, difficulties earth filling work and land acquisition, fund crisis, indifference of the contractors, removal of graves, mosques, temples and educational institutions were some of the reasons behind the delays.
The project was initially undertaken by the BNP-Jammat government in 2005 to ease traffic congestion on the busy link between the capital and country’s main port city. But due to a series of procedural hurdles and two failed tenders, the project did not see any light.
Assuming office in 2009, the Awami League government floated a fresh tender to upgrade the highway. The government in January 2010 signed deals with the three construction firms– Sino Hydro Corporation Ltd of China, Reza Construction Ltd and Taher Brothers-ACL joint venture of Bangladesh– in 2010 to expand the highway.
Of the total work, the Chinese firm has to complete 70 per cent of the work in seven packages, while the two Bangladeshi firms the rest three packages.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader earlier said that the ministry would do everything possible to finish the project early. The minister had previously told the parliament that the project would end by December 2014.
Tk 10,000cr loss a year
