700 coaches, 100 locomotives to add railway fleet

[bluesky]

07 Jun 2017, 23:13:30
700 coaches, 100 locomotives to add railway fleet

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said as part of modernisation of the Bangladesh Railway (BR), process is underway for brining 700 passenger coaches and 100 meter gauge locomotives in the BR fleet.

“We have brought and rehabilitated 530 BG and MG coaches for Bangladesh Railway aimed at providing service cheap, secure and comfortable journey,” she said this, while replying to a stared question from treasury bench member M Monirul Islam of Jessore-5 in the Jatiya Sangsad.

She said her government has brought 46 broad gauge and meter gauge locomotives, 466 broad gauge (BG) and meter gauge (MG) tank and container wagons for mitigating the rolling stock in the Bangladesh Railway.

“Process for bringing 100 broad gauge coaches under the Padma Bridge Railway Connectivity Project and 600 BG and MG coaches with EDCF, tenderer’s and ADB’s finance,” she informed the House.

 

[bluesky]

I only wish BD starts producing railway coaches and locomotives. Private enterprises must be encouraged to invest in such industries. We can start from assembling the imported parts, initially.

 

[TopCat]

Due to govt procurement rule no private company will be interested to invest.

 

[bluesky]

Due to govt procurement rule no private company will be interested to invest.

So, the procurement rules should be changed by the politicians and bureaucrats. The rules fatten their purses and sweetens their fatty and ugly Begums. Sometimes, I have a feeling that these upper tier people do not want the progressive development of BD. It was our shear luck that the private enterprises came out with their initial very small money to invest in labor intensive garments sector that propelled us forward.

But, a further economic push requires fresh and huge capital investment in other less labor intensive sectors. Many of the textile owners have that money, but, they want to keep their businesses risk free. I can only hope that their well educated sons will have the guts to invest in the new industries.