Bangladesh Railway (BR) and Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) have been locked in a row over land acquisition for constructing the longest railway bridge over the Jamuna River.
Official sources said though BBA agreed earlier to provide its land to BR under a deal signed two years back, it is now demanding compensation for the land BR wants permanently and temporarily.
According to a memorandum of understanding signed between the government's two agencies, BBA will provide 167 acres of land permanently and 262 acres of land temporarily from both sides of existing Bangabandhu Multipurpose Jamuna Bridge area.
According to the MoU, BR also prepared a development project proposal for the Jamuna Railway Bridge named as Bangabandhu Railway Bridge. The proposal was later approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on December 06, 2016.
But BBA is asking BR to purchase the land to be acquired permanently and give rent for the land demanded by BR temporarily.
BR officials said following the row, they have proposed that the BBA hand over the land now for facilitating the project work as its detailed design work has almost been completed. They also assured them of giving the money for land after DPP revision.
But the proposal was also rejected by the BBA.
Sources said no representatives attended the BR's project implementation committee's meeting held on Wednesday last.
BR has planned to construct a dedicated railway bridge over the Jamuna River at a cost of Tk 98 billion after the existing road-cum-rail bridge has become vulnerable to train operation.
According to the DPP, the construction work of 4.8-km dual-gauge railway-bridge recommended in parallel with the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge is scheduled to be completed by 2022.
Of the total fund, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will give Tk 77.24 billion.
On completion of the project, officials said, the dedicated railway bridge is likely to facilitate faster train movement. The BR now runs trains at a speed of 10 kilometres per hour to save the bridge.
It will also help execute the government's plan to run gas transmission and optical fibre lines to other side of the river.
Though BBA is now not ready to hand over its land to BR, it is using railway's land for constructing Dhaka Elevated Expressway at free of cost as the expressway will cross the city mainly through the BR's corridor.
BBA officials claimed that BR did not pay Tk 5.0 million to them for running trains over the existing Bangabandhu road-cum-rail bridge.
BR sources said the project implementation committee at its meeting decided to raise the issue at a steering committee's meeting to solve the problem.
