The executive committee of the national economic council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved the second revision of the padma multipurpose bridge project with an increased cost of Tk 8,286.19 crore.
Thus the overall cost of the mega-project has been raised to Tk 28,793.39 crore or Tk 287 billion.
The approval was given at the 17th meeting of the government's highest policymaking body during the current fiscal year held at the NEC conference room in the city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said a total of 10 projects were approved today with an outlay of Tk 33,185.30 crore.
"Of the total project cost, Tk 30,292.54 crore will come from the national exchequer, Tk 22.32 crore from the organisations’ own funds while Tk 2,870.44 crore from project assistance," he said.
Of the approved 10 projects, six are new while four revised ones.
State minister for finance and planning MA Mannan was present at the briefing.
About the project cost increase for the Padma multipurpose bridge, Mustafa Kamal said some new components have been included into the project while a 1.3 kilometre stretch at the Mawa point has been brought under the river training works apart from addition of some selected bridge end facilities and related additional works.
He said the Padma Bridge project is a dream one for the government and once the project is implemented with a 6.15 kilometre bridge on Mawa-Janzira, it would further boost the country's GDP growth.
The Planning Minister said the main bridge construction would be completed by December 2018 while the rest of works would be completed by 2020. He hoped that both the road and rail transport would be possible by 2018 through this multipurpose bridge.
He said as per the latest 2nd revision, the main bridge construction work cost would raise to Tk 12133.39 crore from the first revision's Tk 8,361.06 crore, river training works cost would raise to Tk 9,400 crore from the 1st revision's Tk 4,387.71 crore, related additional works including road widening, ferry ghat shifting, ferry approach road in Mawa and Janzira would be Tk 408.16 crore, resettlement cost to be raised to Tk 1,515 crore from the 1st revision's Tk 1,423.47 crore while the land acquisition cost will be Tk 1,298.73 crore from the first revision's Tk 1086.08 crore.
Mustafa Kamal said the project cost witnessed the highest amount of around Tk 5,000 crore raise in the river training works.
Apart from the main bridge construction, Tk 1,097.39 crore has been allotted for Janzira approach road and selected bridge end facilities under the 2nd revision’s Tk 193.40 crore for Mawa approach road and selected bridge end facilities Tk. 208.71 crore for service area 2.
The authorities concerned earlier indicated that the World Bank's allegations of corruption in the project have caused delays in implementation, thereby escalating the project cost.
When the initial project was approved on August 20, 2007, the cost for the project was estimated at Tk 10,161.75 crore.
However, it did not include the cost of railway lines on the bridge. After the first revision in January, 2011, the estimated cost stood at Tk 20,507.20 crore, which included rail tracks on the bridge.
The project is running four years behind the schedule, after the WB withdrew its USD 1.2-billion loan in 2012 bringing allegations of corruption conspiracies involving top government officials and a Canadian consultancy firm. The government then moved to build the bridge with its own funds.
The project was initially scheduled to be completed by this year. But, it is now expected to be completed by 2018.
Regarding the additional allocation, the Bridges Division pointed out several reasons, including the higher cost of construction materials and consultancy services, increase of land price and land amount, and recruitment of more personnel for implementing the project in due time.
Meeting sources said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the meeting asked the authorities concerned to complete the river dredging works under various projects without any interruption.
She also opined that the dredged earth could be exported abroad, including the Maldives and Singapore, or could be used locally in brick fields.
Besides, the prime minister said the people of the former enclaves could no longer be called people of the enclaves because they now belong to the mainland of the country.
The other projects approved in the meeting are skills and training enhancement project, 2nd revised with Tk 1,782.13 crore, Gopalganj Textiles Engineering College establishment, 1st revised with Tk 129.73 crore, rural infrastructural development of the former enclaves with Tk 180.59 crore, Institutional development and strengthening of Bangladesh Fisheries Academy, 2nd revised with Tk 52.25 crore, Strengthening of National Agricultural Training Academy with Tk 48.27 crore and rehabilitation of Polder No 36/1 under Bagerhat district with Tk 282.83 crore, New Horipur Power Plant Development Project (Long term service agreement and other support services for Horipur 412 MW combined cycle power plant with Tk 807.55 crore, Establishment of Tool Institute with testing facilities for strengthening BITAC with Tk 72.26 crore and Bhandal Juri Water Supply project with Tk 1036.30 crore.
Ministers and state ministers attended the meeting, while planning commission members and secretaries concerned were present.
Prothom Alo
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