Bangladesh Infrastructure: News and Updates

[akash57]

Bangladesh to upgrade internet protocol version

Dhaka, Dec 11 (bdnews24.com) — Bangladesh will soon begin using IPv6 (internet protocol version six) instead of IPv4 to manage the growing number of internet users.

Speakers at a workshop organised by Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) at Sheraton Hotel in the capital on Saturday said that users must be made aware of the upcoming change.

IPv4 technology allows for 4.2 billion unique IP addresses, but the internet users in the country will soon exceed the number. So, the switch to IPv6 technology can accommodate 340 billion addresses.

Speakers said the workshop was arranged to create awareness about this change. The new version of protocol will not support outdated computers and internet accessories. Users must upgrade to version six supported machines as soon as possible.

The workshop was arranged in cooperation with Grameenphone. BCC executive director Md Mahfujur Rahman and Grameenphone IT chief Kazi Islam were present among others.

Bangladesh to upgrade internet protocol version | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com

 

[fallstuff]

Gulistan-Jatrabari Flyover


Thu, 21/10/2010

Images from PRIYO | Priyo Bangladesh

 

[TopCat]

Italian-Thai venture gets expressway job

The communications ministry has finally selected the Italian-Thai Development Company Ltd (ITDCL) as technically responsive bidder for the proposed Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE).

As a result, the financial offer of ITDCL will be opened soon in order to award the contract to the joint venture company of Italy and Thailand.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain yesterday briefed the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and other senior ministers the technical evaluation result during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith presided over the meeting and the prime minister joined it on a special request.

ITDCL and Sikder Real Eastate-KCC JV (Bangladesh-South Korea) have been vying as responsive bidders for the project.

But in the technical evaluation, the Sikder-KCC JV failed to obtain adequate marks and finally got out of the race, said the communications minister.

Now, as per decision of the Bridge Division of the communications ministry, the financial offer of ITDCL will be opened for consideration of the government and the financial offer of Sikder-KCC JV will be returned unopened to the company.

The minister said the Bridge Division will open the ITDCL's financial offer tomorrow.

“I have given nod to a proposal to open the financial offer of ITDCL on December 15,” he told UNB.

The officials said the ITDCL got 88 percent marks while Sikder-KCC obtained only 65.2 percent. As per condition, it was mandatory to get at least 80 percent marks to qualify for opening the financial offer.

After rejection, an official of the Sikder-KCC alleged that an influential quarter at the communication ministry has manipulated the technical evaluation of the project.

He said now they will urge the government to reconstitute the evaluation committee, which will work under the direct supervision of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) instead of the communications ministry.

When asked, Abul Hossain, however, did not want to make any comment on the issue and said the evaluation was done by a committee who should make their own comments on the matter.

He informed that in the committee meeting, the prime minister instructed him to promptly start the work of the project as it is a very high priority project of the government.

The present government undertook the 26-kilometre DEE project as part of its move to ease traffic congestion in the capital.

The project will be implemented in phases of which first phase is from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and end at Kutubkhali of Chittagong Highway.

The cost of the first phase of the project has been estimated at $ 2 billion.

The route alignment of first phase of DEE is Airport-Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Satrasta-Moghbazar-Rail corridor of Kamlapur through Khilgaon-Golapbagh-Kutubkhali.

On completion of the first phase, the expressway will be expanded to Joydevpur and Narayanganj.

It is expected that gradually the main avenues of the capital including Manik Miah Avenue will be linked to the designed route of the expressway.

“Linking the bypass road planned in the eastern side of the capital to the elevated expressway is also being considered strongly,” said a Bridge Division source.

The project was planned to implement as public-private partnership project where the government will have 30 percent equity investment. The selected bidder will have to implement the project on build-own-operate basis.

The Bridge Division invited tender in June this year and initially nine local and international companies participated in the bidding process. Among them, four companies were short listed by the Bridge Division as pre-qualifies bidders.

But when the request for proposal was sought from the four companies, only two of them responded and submitted their final technical and financial offers.

A tender evaluation committee headed by Buet's former vice-chancellor Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury selected the ITDCL and Sikder-KCC JV as technically responsive bidders for the project.

Project Coordinator of the DEE Abdul Wadud said the Bridge Division is expecting to select a bidder within current month and award contract by the first week of January 2011.

The Dhaka Elevated Expressway has been planned to improve road connectivity between the northern part of Dhaka City and the central, south and south eastern parts linking important commercial and business centres of the capital.

However, as per schedule, the implementation of the project was supposed to start in 2010 and completed by December 2013

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Padma Bridge budget revised to rationalise added cost

Padma Bridge budget revised to rationalise added cost

Proposal goes to ECNEC next week

Munima Sultana

The budget of the Padma multipurpose bridge has been revised to adjust the increased cost of the project with its initial plan making the road-cum-rail bridge the country's most impressive and useful one, officials said.

They said the revised development project proposal (RDPP) has already been approved by the Planning Commission and it would be sent to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) next week to get approval for the raised expenditure.

The bridge project on the river Padma at Mawa and Janjira points has been initially designed costing US$ 1.45 billion, which galloped to $2.98 billion while completing detailed design, river training works and resettlement plans.

"The commission is likely to send the revised proposal of the Padma multi-purpose bridge to the ECNEC meeting next week to meet the financiers' demand to get the approval by December this year," said an official.

The cost of the bridge has gradually been upped from the stage of feasibility study done in 2005 for bringing changes including constructing it with steel-truss-composite increasing its length from 5.58 kilometres to 6.15km as well as its height.

The bridge will have a 21.10-metre width with a four-lane road at the top and a broad-gauge rail line below. It will have 150 spans with a 4km approach road at Mawa and a 12km one on the other side.

Project consultant Maunsell AECOM, during the preparation of the detailed design, proposed to include additional features in the main bridge like increase in highway, railway and seismic loadings, earthwork for approaches to enhance railway bridge facilities and service roads which have made the cost of the project costlier.

The bridge has also been planned as one of the world's most attractive and largest foundation-bridge linking it with trans-Asian rail and road highways.

 

[idune]

Expressway tender 'manipulated'

Sikder Real Eastate-KCC JV, which was dropped from the tender of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway (DEE) project as technically non-responsive bidder, has rejected the Communication Ministry's evaluation report, reports UNB.
The Sikder-KCC JV also urged the government to reconstitute the tender evaluation committee (TEC) under the direct supervision of the Vice Chancellor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

Addressing a press conference at a city hotel Tuesday, the owners of the company directly brought allegation against Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain for his involvement in the Italian-Thai Development Company Limited (ITDCL) which became the lone responsive bidder in the TEC's evaluation.

They also raised allegation of manipulating the technical evaluation of the project.

Meanwhile, Communic-ations Minister Syed Abul Hossain rejected the allegations and invited the Transparency Interna-tional Bangladesh (TIB) to investigate into the matter and see whether there was any corruption in selecting the responsive bidders.

The Communication Ministry recently selected the ITDCL as responsive bidder for the US$ 2 billion project, which was undertaken by the government to ease the city's traffic congestion.

Addressing the press conference, Sikder-KCC JV chairman Rick Haque Sikder said the Communications Minister himself has business interest in the ITDLC. "That's why the TEC was formed keeping majority of officials from his own ministry."

Urging Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to look into the matter, he said when the Prime Minister is trying to resolve power and infrastructure problems of the country the Communications Minister is engaged to nullify her efforts.

Sikder-KCC JV managing director Ron Haque Sikder claimed that his company has successfully fulfilled all the criteria of the tender requirements. "But despite this we've been dropped from the process only to help the minister's own company to qualify," he said.

He mentioned that the Sikder-KCC JV submitted all documents in support of its financial strength and technical experience required for the project. Ron Haque Sikder also claimed that the financial offer of Sikder-KCC JV will be at least Tk 4,000 crore less than the ITDCL offer. He said the Bridge Division Secretary was made a member of the TEC, which is a violation of the rules.

Both the ITDCL and the Sikder-KCC (Bangladesh-South Korean joint venture company) have been vying for the DEE project. But as per recommendation of the TEC, the Communications Ministry finally selected the ITDCL as lone responsive bidder for the DEE project.
As per decision of the ministry, the financial offer of ITDCL will be opened on Wednesday in order to award the contract to this joint venture company of Italy and Thailand.

Against the backdrop of the allegation by the Sikder-KCC JV, Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain has sent a letter to the TIB to investigate the allegation of manipulation.

"I want the matter to be investigated by the TIB for the sake of transparency," he told UNB.

When asked why he was inviting TIB to investigate into the matter instead of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), the only legitimate body to investigate any corruption, the minister said: "I don't want to take newspapers' matter to ACC."

He also said the integrity of the members of the TEC is unquestionable. The DEE project will be implemented in phases of which first phase is from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and end at Kutubkhali on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway.

The cost of the first phase of the project has been estimated at US$ 2 billion.The route alignment of first phase of DEE is
Airport-Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Satrasta-Moghbazar-Rail corridor of Kamlapur through Khilgaon-Golapbag-Kutubkhali.
After completion of the first phase, the expressway will be expanded to Joydevpur and Narayanganj.

The project was planned to implement as public-private partnership project where the government will have 30 percent equity investment. The selected bidder will have be to implement the project on build-own-operate basis (BOO).

A tender evaluation committee (TEC) headed by BUET's former professor and former Vice-Chancellor of Brac University Dr Jamilur Reza Chowdhury selected the Ital-Thai Development Company (Italy-Thailand) and Sikder-KCC JV (Bangladesh-South Korea) as technically responsive bidders for the project.

As per earlier schedule, the implementation of the project was supposed to start in 2010 and completed by December 2013.

Expressway tender 'manipulated'

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Transport planning for competitiveness, reducing business costs


Transport planning for competitiveness, reducing business costs

Mohammad Mohsin

Bangladesh has many things to do for making its economy more and more competitive. Among them, a main requirement would be much improving, expanding and upgrading its transportation infrastructures and addressing the related problems. Business leaders have been urging the government to fast develop transportation capacities to achieve greater competitiveness for businesses.

According to one credible estimate, the Bangladesh economy can gain from 1.0 per cent rise in its total economic output if the different modes of transportation only in the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor are made more efficient. This will also provide a big boost to the country's foreign trade.

The overall informal payments and other inefficiencies, according to related studies, add up to 40 per cent to transport-related costs for the country's imports. This means the case for streamlining the transportation mediums in this corridor, quite clear. Not only in this particular corridor, similar transportation-related improvements and efficiencies need to be achieved throughout the country. The same will call for significantly adding to the number of transportation-related infrastructures, their maintenance and various supportive functions including also the elimination of the tolls and other man-made abuses.

Indeed, transportation is counted as a major cost of business. The countries that have developed or are noted for moving up in the economic ladder, owe a lot to successful transport planning. Such planning can involve many things from building shortest road, rail or waterway systems for the dispatch of cargoes to identifying and promoting the cheapest mediums of transport and integrating them to the needs of various users. One many cite here the case of waterways which, if properly developed, can certainly become relatively cheaper for the haulage of cargoes of the readymade garments (RMG) sector in Bangladesh. But speed of delivery requires their transportation through land routes whereas other importers or producers, not bothered by the need for fast freighting, can opt for the cheaper waterway. Thus, different categories of users can use different mediums of transport suitable to them. But each of these mediums needs to discharge its utility efficiently for the optimum benefits of businesses. Here, the challenge lies in adding to capacities of the different transportation mediums and making them function with utmost efficiency.

The functioning of the Chittagong port also needs to be much improved. The time of handling cargoes there at the port was earlier reduced very considerably. But conditions in this port deteriorated, again, seriously in recent months. The government needs to do everything at the fastest to ensure that the functioning of this port improves and its recovery is sustained.

Government should also adopt a plan with no loss of time to build at least one expressway exclusively for the travel of business cargoes in the strategic business corridor between Dhaka and Chittagong. The plan on its implementation can lead to saving of a substantial amount of money annually for businesses from substantial reduction of transportation costs on the corridor.

Apart from this expressway, government should also give attention simultaneously to building inland container depots (ICDs) to be supportive of both the port and the expressway. Similarly, railway's transportation capacities in this corridor can be increased and improved by double-tracking the existing single line and improving railway management. Furthermore, the waterways -- with ICDs of their own -- need to be similarly developed.

All such measures will need to be taken in line with projections of present and potential uses of the transportation mediums. That is why it is absolutely necessary that the works should proceed under a comprehensive or master plan with components in it that can be progressively realised in tandem with the needs of the users. It is also imperative to make progress on different proposed projects to develop Bangladesh as a regional hub for transportation.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

IDB lends Bangladesh $105 mln for upgrading refinery

Monday, 27 December 2010 00:00

IDB lends Bangladesh $105 mln for upgrading refinery | International

DHAKA, Dec 26 (Reuters) - The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has offered Bangladesh a $105 million loan to go towards the cost of renovating its lone state-owned oil refinery, a senior government official said Sunday.

"The IDB has confirmed to us about giving the funds and we will sign a deal with the bank very soon," said Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, secretary of the Finance Ministry's Economic Relations Division.

The 40-year-old Eastern Refinery Ltd, in the port city of Chittagong, has a capacity to refine 1.5 million tonnes of crude oil a year and authorities had been seeking a $300 million loan from the IDB to expand its capacity to 4.5 million tonnes.

Bangladesh imports between 3.4 million and 3.8 million tonnes of fuel products, including about 1.5 million tonnes of crude, a year, officials said.

Energy officials say that in five years, state-run Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation will need to import up to 6.6 million tonnes of fuel and petroleum products annually to meet demand.

The ERL also refines condensates collected from the country's natural gas fields. Bangladesh's condensate production is 5,000 barrels per day. The country's annual fuel import costs range from $2.5 billion to $3 billion.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

$165.7m project for expanding city's sanitation services

$165.7m project for expanding city’s sanitation services

The government has decided to undertake the Dhaka Water Supply and Sanitation Project (DWSSP) at a cost of US$165.7 million, aiming to expand sustainable drainage and sanitation services in the capital city, Dhaka, reports UNB.

Of the total project cost, the World Bank will provide US$149 million, while the government will provide the remaining, a World Bank press release said.

The project aims to rehabilitate and expand the drainage, sewerage and water supply and sanitation infrastructure within the areas of responsibility of the DWASA (Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority).

DWASA has initiated the rehabilitation of the first batch of selected canals in the city. This is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Canal improvement works will continue with restoration of a number of additional drainage channels.

DWASA is engaged in procuring the key infrastructure works and other services funded under the project. This includes the installation of two major storm water pumping stations at the Rampura and Kamlapur areas of Dhaka. Once completed, these are expected to improve drainage and minimize urban flooding, particularly in the eastern part of Dhaka.

DWASA has also engaged expert services to prepare a master plan for wastewater management in the Dhaka City. This will lead to the rehabilitation, repair and expansion of priority sections of the city’ s sewerage network. Treatment plants set up under this initiative will improve the urban environment.

Most of the city’s natural channels and wetlands, which help in coping with storm water flows, have been filled in with unchecked expansion of settlement and accumulation of domestic and industrial wastes.

Dumping of industrial wastes and untreated sewage into the Buriganga, Balu, Turag and Shitalakhya rivers continues to strain an already overburdened sewerage network and worsen the water quality of the surrounding water bodies.

Currently, the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority supplies water to about 70 per cent of the population of the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and its suburbs, the Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA).

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Jatrabari flyover poses threat to Dhaka's metro rail project

Jatrabari flyover poses threat to Dhaka's metro rail project


Munima Sultana

Dhaka's planned US$1.7 billion metro rail faces an uncertain future as the construction of the Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover has damaged the scope for executing the mass transport project, a study said.

According to an interim report by a Japanese team, the flyover would overlap with one third of the proposed 21.5 metro rail, making the implementation of the entire project "almost uncertain".

"We are confused about the future of the metro rail as there is no coordination between the rail and the flyover projects," said senior representative of Japanese International Cooperation Agency, Mayumi Endoh.

The JICA, which is carrying out the Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study (DHUTS), has already written to the communications ministry and top government officials about the danger being posed by the flyover.

"We told the DTCB that constructing the metro rail from Pallabi to Sayedabad through elevated way would face big problem as it overlaps with the entire Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover," said a member of the team.

The Japanese team is working under the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) as part of JICA assistance to help the Bangladeshi capital get rid of its chronic traffic jams.

"We have already expressed our worry to the government agencies. But the Dhaka City Corporation, which is executing the fly-over, has so far failed to coordinate with the DTCB about the flyover," the member said.

The Japanese team had earlier in November identified two major obstructions - four underpasses and an old Dhaka Museum - in implementing the metro rail.

Acting on the team's findings, the communications minister directed the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and DTCB to integrate the two projects so that both can be implemented without causing harm to each other.

The DCC has been implementing the Tk 13.5 billion Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover with six entry points to ease congestion in the southern parts of the capital. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction in June 2010.

JICA officials said they have sought detailed design and implementing schedule of the flyover project from the DCC. They alleged that no such document has been furnished yet.

JICA Chief Representative Takao Toda last month wrote to the advisor to the Prime Minister on economic affairs, Mashiur Rahman, expressing his concern at the potential conflict between the two projects.

The JICA chief also sought the advisor's intervention to advise the concerned agencies to coordinate among themselves so that the proposed metro rail route remains undisturbed for its smooth implementation.

The DTCB and ministry officials said they held a number of coordination meetings with related agencies during the last couple of months and agreed to find out solution to the problem "technically".

A DTCB official said as both the projects are important to improve the traffic jam situation in Dhaka, the government has directed the experts to find out solution from an engineering point of view.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Tk 55cr project taken to facelift roads around Dhaka WC venues
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New Age | Newspaper

Staff Correspondent

The Dhaka City Corporation has initiated a project involving Tk 54.56 crore to improve the roads and infrastructure and beautify areas around the Cricket World Cup venues in Dhaka, officials said on Sunday.

The army is implementing the project called, ‘Improvement of road and infrastructure and beautification works around Bangabandhu National Stadium and Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium, to be completed by February 5, said Colonel Abu Sayeed Md Masud, the project director, at a news conference at the Hatirjheel-Begunbari lake development project office in the capital on Sunday.

Some 16,000 foreign guests are expected to visit Bangladesh during to watch World Cup matches, six of which, including two quarter-finals, will be held in Dhaka and two others in Chittagong,

The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup is being co-hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

The executive committee of the National Economic Council on December 7, 2010 approved the project and the LGRD and cooperatives ministry on December 14, 2010, vested the 16 Engineer Construction Battalion of the army the project implementation task. The battalion started work on December 26, 2010.

‘Twenty-seven roads to and from the match venues will be developed,’ said the project director. ‘The work includes road carpeting and asphalting, renovation of pavements, medians and drains along the roads.’

He said 42 contractor organisations enlisted with the Dhaka City Corporation had been employed in the job.

‘About 40 per cent of the carpeting job and about 30 to 35 per cent of the renovation jobs have been completed. We are working hard to complete the work in time,’ he said. ‘We had to face difficulties in free the pavements of illegal occupation.’

‘People have set up shops on the pavements, even on roads in places, and they have been doing business this way for more than 30 years. We are removing illegal structures with the help of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, the Dhaka City Corporation and local people,’ he added.

He said a total of 4.66 lakh square metres of road stretch would be renovated under the project.

The road stretches of 21.95 kilometers to be given the facelift under the project included stretches from Proshika Bhaban to Yangtai Restaurant and Avenue 5 at Mirpur 6, stretches from the Mirpur 10 crossing to Grameen Bank, pavement and drains from the Mirpur 10 crossing to the Mirpur 1 crossing, pavements and drains of the link road from Road 2 to Avenue 5, internal road from the Mirpur 10 crossing (Phalpatti) to the Mirpur police station, Avenue 2 of Block C of Mirpur 10, Road 11 of Block B at Mirpur 10, Haji Road from Mirpur 2 to the Mirpur Zoo, Avenue 4 from the T&T office to Proshika Bhaban, Rokeya Sarani from the Mirpur 10 crossing to Bijoy Sarani, Airport Road up to Mohakhali, Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue from Bijoy Sarani to Shahbag, Hare Road, Captain Mansur Ali Sarani, Abdul Ghani Road, Syed Nazrul Islam Sarani from the Paltan crossing to Bangabandhu Stadium, stretch from the National Press Club to Bidyut Bhaban, Topkhana Road, Inner Circular Road up to the Fakirapool crossing, DIT Extension Road from the Fakirapool crossing to Bangabhaban, stretches from Kakrail Mosque to Nightingale crossing and stretches from the Paltan crossing to the Dainik Bangla crossing.

The city corporation’s superintending engineer and project director Abdur Razzak, said, ‘A handful of road stretches and medians will be carried out under the project as only Tk 5.66 lakh has been allocated for the work.’

He said the remaining of the beautification work would be carried out by sponsors.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Front Page
Expressway gets go-ahead
Agreement in a week
Staff Correspondent

Expressway gets go-ahead

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs yesterday approved the Dhaka elevated expressway project paving the way for the government to sign a concession agreement with the project's private investor.

The approval came at a committee meeting at the Cabinet Division of the Secretariat.

“It will take a week to sign the concession agreement with the bid winner,” Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, secretary to Bangladesh Bridge Authority, told The Daily Star.

Bid winner Ital-Thai Development Company has to form a new entity and get it registered with the joint stock of companies to implement the 26-kilometre expressway project.

The cabinet committee asked the Bridge Authority to submit the minutes of the negotiations between the government and the bidder, which ended on Thursday, said a source in the meeting.

The bidder during final negotiations agreed to pay the government a one-time concession fee of $40 millions in addition to other financial benefits, said Prof Md Shamsul Hoque, a member of the tender evaluation committee.

The government however desired in the Request for Proposal that the concessionaire should pay it a concession fee of $25 million every year.

The bidder committed the government to providing it with other financial benefits that include 37.5 percent corporate tax of the income from the expressway, 15 percent VAT on every toll transaction and 11 percent customs duty on imported materials.

It also agreed to pay the government Tk 87 crore for transfer of technology. A part of the amount will be spent to set up an engineering institute to impart training on the new technologies to be used in the construction, said Prof Hoque.

The technical teams involved in tender evaluation opted for box type construction of the expressway, for which Ital-Thai offered a cost of Tk 8,703 crore.

The government has agreed to provide 27 percent of the construction cost as Viability Gap Fund from its Public Private Partnership fund.

The concessionaire has to start the construction work in three months after issuance of the work order and complete it in three and a half years.

The proposed route of the expressway starts from Shahjalal Airport via Kuril, Banani, Tejgaon, Moghbazar and Kamalapur Stadium along the existing railway track. It then runs through Gulbagh across the Demra road up to Kutubkhali via Dania.

Ital-Thai has agreed to a standard toll of Tk125 for a car from one end to the other and Tk100 for partial use of the expressway.

A public bus has to pay double the standard rate, a six-wheeler truck four times and any vehicle larger than that five times. Motorbikes will not get access to the facility for safety reasons.

The expressway will be handed over to the government after 25 years of concession period.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

$2.93b Padma bridge okayed
Cost doubles in three years

$2.93b Padma bridge okayed

FE Report

The government Tuesday approved a 205.07 billion taka (US$2.93 billion) bridge over the river Padma, raising its construction cost to nearly twice the estimate made three years back.

The country's highest project approval body led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina okayed the revised cost in an effort to kick-off the work of the Bangladesh's costliest project later this year, officials said.

The body, Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), had approved a 101.62 billion taka budget for the 6.15 kilometres long rail-cum-road bridge in August 2007.

But the cost has been revised due to soaring prices of construction materials in the global market, a larger-than-expected spike in resettlement budget and complex engineering of the project, communications ministry officials said.

The bulk of the cost will be funded by credit from development lenders such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Japan and Islamic Development Bank. Construction is expected to complete in 2014-15 financial year.

The government took up the ambitious Padma Bridge building scheme to connect the country's impoverished southwestern region with the more-developed central and eastern parts.

A World Bank report has said the planned bridge would boost the country's gross domestic product by 1.2 per cent, revive the fortune of the ailing Mongla Port and cut poverty in the poorest south-western districts.

The report said pace of poverty alleviation in the country's 20 odd southwestern districts, where level of hunger is five per cent higher than the national average, would speed up once the bridge is built.

Of the $2.93 billion, the four development partners will lend $2.36 billion with the World Bank pledging $1.20 billion, ADB $615 million, Japan $400 million and the IDB $140 million.

The rest will be financed from the government's tax revenue, an official of the communications ministry said.

The ECNEC also approved a 37.80 kilometres long land port connecting road scheme in southern district of Feni, which will facilitate cross-border trade with northeastern Indian states.

The Baruierhat-Heako-Ramgarh land port road, which links southeastern Bangladesh with the Indian state of Tripura, will cost 2.04 billion taka. It will be financed from the one billion dollar Indian soft credit.

A top government official said the Tripura state government would construct part of the road linking the Indian land port of Sabrum with Bangladesh's border point of Ramgarh, situated on the bank of Feni river.

Seven north-eastern Indian states would use the planned road to access Chittgaong seaport, he said, adding it would spur trade between the two nations.

The ECNEC in its meeting in Dhaka also endorsed five other projects valued at 18.09 billion taka.

They include 10.78 billion taka Chittagong Water Supply Improvement and Sanitation project, 780 million taka gas supply scheme in Chandpur, a 150megawatt power plant and 4.25 billion taka sewage treatment plant at Dasherkandi.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Govt to bear 27pc cost of Dhaka expressway

Govt to bear 27pc cost of Dhaka expressway


Munima Sultana

The government has agreed to bear 27 per cent construction cost of the planned Dhaka elevated expressway as it wrapped up negotiations with the project's Italian-Thai contractor, an official said Sunday.

The Ital-Thai Development Company will build the 26 kilometre expressway at a cost of 1.25 billion dollars in three and a half years after signing the deal with the government's bridge authorities.

"The negotiations over the elevated expressway have ended successfully. We hope we can sign the construction deal with the Ital-Thai on January 19," said a senior official of the Bangladesh Bridge Division.

As part of the agreement, Bangladesh government will contribute 23.50 billion taka - or 27 per cent of the 87.03 billion taka project cost - and in return will get 25 per cent of the toll for 25 years after the construction.

"We think it's a win-win deal. We haven't given any extra benefits to the company. The Ital-Thai will have to pay all taxes and VAT as per the country's laws to bring their construction equipment," the official said.

The toll of the expressway, the first infrastructure project being funded by public-private-partnership, has been fixed at 125 taka for a car. The rate will be double for buses and four times for trucks and six-wheelers.

"The government will earn an estimated 28 billion taka in 25 years. The figure has been calculated forecasting the number of maximum users at around 80,000 vehicles," he said.

Officials said the conclusion of the negotiations has ended the last vestige of uncertainty over the project, which even saw a legal challenge last month from one of the bid losers.

The government had earlier announced to bear 30 per cent of the project cost it intended to fund in the form of "subsidy". Both sides agreed to bring the government's share down to 27 per cent during last week's final negotiations.

Ital-Thai Development Company Ltd won the bid to construct the city's costliest infrastructure project last month after beating a joint venture of local and Korean firm in the bidding.

It offered the lowest construction price and passed the financial and technical tests.

The BBA, the executing agency of the expressway, has a target to complete the project by early 2014.

The elevated road's 26 km route starts at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and ends at Kutubkhali in Demra. It will touch Kuril, Banani, Mohakhali, Tejgaon, Satrasta, Moghbazar, Kamalapur, Khilgaon and Golapbag.

Officials said project cost has gone up by around 12 per cent from the initial estimate after the bridge authorities decided to use box girders, instead of I-girder, for the expressway.

In its financial offer the Ital-Thai has given two options for construction of the elevated road: 778 billion taka if I-girders are used and 870.3 billion taka for box-girders.

They said the government opted for the "costly option" to make the expressway attractive.

The meeting agreed to provide 30 per cent of the acquired land to the investor in the first phase to fast-track the construction from Shahjalal International Airport to Kakoli at Banani.

The land will be handed over immediately after the signing of the agreement.