After overcoming the Padma main bridge imbroglio, it is still no smooth sailing for those doing the design of the rail links with the country's longest infrastructure over a river.
At the very beginning of getting down to the work on the railway track, the authorities have stumbled upon a design-related complexity, sources familiar with the matter have said.
The complexity has arisen as the four pile load tests have found soil levels different from those shown in the detailed design.
Experts and the project office now anticipate that a review of the design of the Padma Rail Link Project (PRLP) may delay the construction work and also push up the cost significantly.
Doing the pile load tests, sources said, the Chinese contractor hired for the job found soil levels in the project area different from those shown in the detailed design.
The China Railway Group Limited (CRGL) has submitted the reviewed design of the 172-kilometre railway track to the project office after conducting a geotechnical study.
The study now suggests carrying out soil treatment, embankment and pile construction in a way which is quite different from that in the detailed design, the sources say. In that case, the cost involvement will also increase significantly.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR), the project implementing agency, has already informed the higher authority, including the fast-track committee, of the possibility of a significant rise in the project cost. The fast-track committee is scheduled to meet this month.
The PRLP has been listed as a fast-track project as it will establish rail links with the Padma Bridge at both ends (Mawa and Jajira points) of the country's longest bridge now under construction.
The BR and the CRGL signed a Tk 247.49 billion commercial contract on August 8, 2016 to develop the railway track under a government-to-government arrangement.
The commercial contract with the CRGL, however, came into effect on July 3, 2018, due to delay in signing a loan agreement with the Chinese Exim Bank.
The CRGL also took more time to start the pile load tests due to a delay in mobilising necessary equipment, including batching tank, according to officials.
The Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project also earlier faced a similar soil-related problem at the beginning of construction of the road-cum-rail bridge.
The soil layer under 14 piers of the main bridge was found different from that in the design at the beginning that delayed the construction work by two years. The bridge work was scheduled to be completed by 2018.
The government still has a target to allow both rail and road traffic through the bridge on its very inaugural day.
New Zealand-based firm Aecom Monsel carried out the detailed design of the main bridge after a feasibility study while the Australian firm SMEC did both feasibility study and detailed design under the PRL project in 2014.
As the river banks are liquefying zones, experts are now suggesting going deeper up to 45 metres to get the desirable level of soil, sources have said.
The project's detailed design suggested constructing 4,500 piles for the railway tracks on both sides of the Padma Bridge with piling depth ranging between 30 and 38 metres. Now the Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC) suggests that the piling depth should be 38 metres to 45 metres.
Due to the design-related problem, the project office has already surrendered Tk 13 billion, out of Tk 30 billion allocated in the Revised Annual Development Programme, as it would not be able to spend the amount of money within the current fiscal year.
The physical progress in the PRL project has so far been recorded at only 2.0 per cent, according to the official report.
When contacted, Rail Secretary M Mofazzel Hossain admitted that the PRL project had been behind the schedule but said the delay was due to the loan agreement formalities which took a longer time to complete.
Project Director Golam Fokhruddin Ahmed Chowdhury, however, said the problem with the design was part of the work and that the solution would be worked out soon.
He expressed his hope that the project work would begin in full swing within weeks.
He also said the progress in land acquisition for the project was satisfactory.
