Construction of the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Ghundum railway line project is going on slowly, as the Bangladesh Railway (BR) has failed to complete necessary land acquisition for its construction work, said officials.
BR has executed only 18 per cent of the "fast-track" project until last month (December).
Subsequently, BR has called for lowering the project's fund by 64 per cent to Tk 5.28 billion in the upcoming Revised Annual Development Programme (RADP) of the current fiscal year (FY), 2018-19, from its current allocation of Tk 14.50 billion, they also said.
Director of the project, Mr Mofizur Rahman, told the FE that the district authority has failed to acquire all the lands, necessary for the project, resulting in its implementation delay.
The BR project is one of the top 10 priority project of the government, as it has been included in the "fast-track" list to expedite execution.
In July 2010, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved the project for constructing single-line meter-gauge railway track from Dohazari in Chittagong to Cox's Bazar via Ramu and Ramu to Ghundum along Myanmar border at a cost of Tk 18.52 billion.
ECNEC revised the project in April 2016, enhancing the cost to Tk 180.34 billion for building 102-km dual-gauge railway line on the route.
"When we prepared the ADP for the current FY in last June, BR sought higher funds for implementing the project. Now the organisation has proposed to cut the allocation by 64 per cent due to its poor implementation," a senior official of the Planning Commission (PC) told the FE, requesting for anonymity.
It is interesting that BR has requested for drastically lowering the available foreign fund to Tk 5.0 billion in the upcoming RADP, 49 per cent of its total Tk 9.75 billion allocation in original ADP, he noted.
The agency has also called for lowering its allocation from the government's internal resources to only Tk 287.5 million from the current allocation of Tk 4.75 billion.
"If the progress of such a "fast-track" project is so poor, how will the country's quality development be ensured?"
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing US$ 1.50 billion out of the total Tk 180.34 billion cost of the project.
The project director concerned said they started construction work of the railway line, where acquisition of lands from the owners was completed.
"We have started construction of roads, bridges and culverts for the project."
"We are hopeful of completing the railway track project by June 2022 to connect the tourist city Cox's Bazar."
The rail-line from Dohazari to Cox's Bazar will facilitate quick travel to the world's longest sea-beach from the capital. Besides, neighbouring India, Nepal and Bhutan will also be connected with Cox's Bazar through the existing Dhaka-Kolkata rail-route after completion of the project, the BR official said.
People will be able to reach the coastal resorts in only six hours - four hours ahead of the present travelling time by road. Even the journey from Kolkata of India's West Bengal to the tourist hub will be only a matter of 16 hours, he added.
Meanwhile, the government is rehabilitating the 47-km Chittagong-Dohazari section of the rail-track with its own funds. The project concerned has been divided into two lots.
Under the first lot, Dohazari-Chakaria rail-line is being constructed jointly by China's CREC and Bangladesh's Toma Construction Company at a cost of Tk 26.88 billion.
Under the second lot, track from Chakaria to Ramu and Cox's Bazar is being constructed jointly by Chinese CCICC and Bangladesh's Max Infrastructure Ltd at a cost of Tk 35.03 billion.
The Ramu-Ghundum portion rail-track of the project will be constructed later, BR officials added.
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