The fast-track Padma railway link project is likely to face another blow as the Bangladesh Railway (BR) has sought to lower its current annual allocation for it in the development budget, officials said on Wednesday.
The government had allocated Tk 39.95 billion for the mega project in the annual development programme (ADP) for the current fiscal year (FY), 2019-20.
But the state-run railway has now sought Tk 33.05 billion in the upcoming revised annual development programme (RADP), which is 17 per cent lower than the original outlay, as it has failed to meet the annual project implementation target, said the officials.
The BR is scheduled to complete the Padma Bridge railway link project by June 2024 at a cost of Tk 392.47 billion.
Of the total project cost, Tk 210.26 billion is being provided by the Chinese government.
A BR official said they would need less funds this fiscal as it saw delays in land acquisition and in preparing detailed design.
Although the BR proposed slashing the fund allocation in the upcoming RADP, it would require bigger funds in the FY 2021 ADP as it expects to see better progress in the future, he added.
Meanwhile, the BR has so far implemented about 33 per cent of the total project work even as four years have been elapsed since January 2016, the project inception period, officials said.
Another official said the BR signed a Tk 247.49 billion commercial contract in August 2016 with Chinese company-China Railway Group Limited (CRGL) --for installing 172 km broad-gauge single railway track on both sides of the Padma Bridge, the longest bridge of the country.
But it took nearly two years for the commercial contract to take effect due to the delay in signing the loan agreement with the Chinese loan provider, the Exim Bank.
The Tk 210.26 billion loan contract was signed in April 2018 with the EXIM Bank.
The BR officials said the contractor, CRGL, has taken too much time to start the pile load tests on the 172 km railway track alignment.
When asked, a Planning Commission official said, "The Padma Railway link project is one of the highest priority projects of the government for which we try to allocate adequate funds the implementing agencies seek."
"As per the BR's requirement, we allocated Tk 39.95 billion in the current original ADP," he said.
But now the BR is surrendering more than 17 per cent of its available funds in the pipeline as it has failed to implement its targeted work, he told the FE.
It means the completion of the project will be delayed further, he added.
The government has attached highest priority to the construction of the Padma Bridge, with road communication on the top and the railway connections in the lower portion of the 6.15-kilometre structure.
