The railway's regional connectivity project faced delay as over 100-kilometre rail line from Dohazari of Chattogram to Cox's Bazar could not be constructed upon failure to acquire land.
Officials said due to the delay, state-run Bangladesh Railway (BR) revised its annual budget for the Tk 180 billion Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail project, though the contract came into force on March 01.
"We could not acquire necessary land for starting the construction of the project due to various reasons," said an official without elaborating.
He said the issue was discussed with respective deputy commissioners but the problem could not be resolved yet.
According to the railway, only 37 acres of land out of the required 367 acres in the Chattogram zone were handed over to the project.
But some 210 acres out of 1,000 acres of land in Ramu and Chokoria were acquired.
The project could spend only Tk 6.62 billion against the allocation of Tk 10 billion.
The official record showed the project's progress was only 3.2 per cent against the target of 7.0 per cent.
Officials said the railway secretary and the cabinet secretary held separate meetings with local administrations when deadlines for handing over the land were set in January and February.
But both deadlines were missed, they added. "There is no basic problem in the fast-track project. But the progress is slow because the district administration couldn't acquire land due to the lack of adequate manpower," railway secretary Mohammad Mofazzel Hossain told the FE.
He also said the problem will be resolved soon as the number of kanungo and surveyors in the districts were increased.
Due to requirement from other ministries, the district administration could not mobilise land officials for carrying out land acquisition work for the railway project.
Besides, they said, the problem arose as the land acquisition process was being conducted following the old rule.
According to the revised rule, the government must pay three times the market value of land.
The land so far acquired by the railway agency was done under the old rule, officials said.
They said the agency will have to follow the new rule to kick-start the land acquisition process.
The Ministry of Land, in a gazette notification, also asked the railway authorities to complete the land acquisition process within 60 days
The railway agency signed contracts with two Chinese joint venture companies in September 2017 to construct the 100.83 kilometre rail track.
The target was set to launch part of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar via Ramu by 2022 and Ramu to Gumdum near Myanmar by 2024.
The project has already gone through the change in estimates by increasing the cost from Tk 18 billion to Tk 180 billion for changes in design. The single-track rail line was changed into dual-gauge tract.
Some 11 railway stations will be set up at Dohazari, Satkania, Lohagara, Harbang, Chakaria, Dulahazara, Islamabad, Ramu, Cox's Bazar, Ukhia and Gundum with computer-based interlock signaling system
The construction of the dual-gauge track is to facilitate quick travel to the world's longest sea beach but it will also be the part of the Trans-Asian Rail Route connecting Bangladesh with other regional neighbours including China, Myanmar and Thailand.
Neighbouring Bhutan, India and Nepal can also use the line through the existing Dhaka-Kolkata rail route.
smunima@yahoo.com