Project cost rises as size expands

The government is on its way to doubling the size of a planned permanent exhibition centre in Purbachal new town to hold the annual Dhaka International Trade Fair, thereby increasing the project cost by about 64 percent, despite a scarcity of land in the country.

The planning ministry is going to place the revised project titled China-Bangladesh exhibition centre before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) today.

In it, the amount of land required is estimated to be 35 acres. Initially, it was 20 acres.

When the project was approved, the estimated cost was Tk 796 crore, of which Tk 626 crore was being provided by the Chinese government as a grant.

Now, the revised cost is Tk 1,303 crore, with the additional Tk 507 crore coming from government resources.

The revised project papers say 38 percent of the expenses have been made while physical progress had reached 23 percent.

The Ecnec had approved the project in August 2015 and it was scheduled to have been completed last month. Now, the completion date has been extended to December 2020.

The Export Promotion Bureau of Bangladesh first took up the initiative in 2009 to present the country's products to foreign buyers, said a planning ministry official.

The cost was calculated to be Tk 275 crore while the Old Airport area was selected as the venue. The land was found to be unavailable and the sector 4 of Purbachal's Roopganj side was selected.

On the increase in cost, the planning ministry said the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design has prepared a second design of the project which necessitated the use of more land and new components.

A firm approved by the Chinese government will construct the exhibition centre and hand it over to the Bangladesh government, said a planning ministry official.

The institute's new design contains 806 booths of nine square metres each in two hall rooms.

There will also be a conference room, press centre, meeting room and business information centre, as well as parking space for 1,500 cars. There will be a maternity corner and crèche on the first floor.

The proposal says the permanent exhibition centre would enable manufacturers and exporters to showcase their products year round while the local companies would get ideas from visiting foreign buyers.

Currently, the trade fair is held at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar near the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre throughout the month of January.

Local companies participate alongside foreign ones from countries, including India, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Thailand, the US, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.