Bangabandhu Railway Bridge: Minister optimistic, challenges aplenty

Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan has said the construction of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge will be completed within the August 2024 deadline.

The construction may be done even before the deadline if any major natural calamity or global crisis doesn't occur, the minister said while visiting the construction site yesterday.

He said 1.15km span out of 4.8km has already been installed in eastern part and the work has been going on in full swing.

The Russia-Ukraine war has caused an adverse impact on different railway projects, but this particular scheme is still remains free from the impact and it has not been affected by the US dollar crisis either, he said.

"The way work is going on day and night, we are hopeful of completing the work before the stipulated time," he said.

However, the ground reality is not so rosyas the progress of the work is quite slow in the western part of the bridge in Sirajganj compared to the eastern part in Tangail.

The work at the eastern part saw 65 percent progress against the western part's 36 percent till early this month, said sources at Bangladesh Railway.

The project authorities were not able to use Tk 1,151 crore from the allocation it was supposed to receive from the Annual Development Programme (ADP).

In this given situation, it is likely to be very difficult for the authorities to meet the August 2024 deadline, and they may take four to six more months to complete the work, the sources added.

Taken up in 2016, the Tk 16,780.95 crore project is being implemented with a Japanese soft loan (72 percent) and government funds. However, physical work of the project started in August 2020 and it saw 55 percent progress till this month.

The bridge is being constructed 300 metres upstream of the existing Bangabandhu Bridge over the Jamuna.

Once built, the dual-gauge double-track bridge will be the largest dedicated rail bridge in the country. It will improve the capacity of BR in operating more trains between the capital and the western districts of the country. It will also help reduce train delays which are now quite common, officials said.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES?

The government approved the bridge project in December 2016 at a cost of Tk 9,734 crore. The deadline was set at December 2023.

But the costs of two work packages of the main bridge saw a huge rise after the detailed design was completed in September 2018. Besides, the expenses for land acquisition, land lease and building a museum were also included in the project, taking the total cost to Tk 16,781 crore and the deadline was deferred to December 2025 with a one-year defect liability period.

The project authorities divided the bridge in two parts --western part with 23 piers and eastern part with 27 piers -- to complete the work promptly, and hired two Japanese joint-venture firms for the work.

A joint venture of Obayashi Corporation, TOA Corporation and JFE was given the contract for the work in the eastern part while another joint venture of the IHI and SMCC was tasked with the work in the western part.

As per the contracts, their work is supposed to be completed within August next year.

While the construction of most of the piers at the eastern part is completed, only three in the western part are done, BR source said.

Asked about the reason, the railways minister said the contractor working at the eastern part had previous experience of working in Bangladesh and many of their equipment were in the country.

However, the other contractor took time to start the work, but they are now working in full swing and are hopeful of making up for the delay by the deadline, Sujan said.

But BR sources said the second contractor would require four to six more months beyond the August 2024 deadline to cover the delay.

A total of Tk 3,850 crore were allocated for the project through ADP this fiscal year, but in the revised ADP the project authorities will surrender Tk 1,151 crore, shows a BR document.

Asked about the reason, Project Director Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman said although they made significant progress in physical work, they cannot clear payments to contractors if the work of a particular segment is not completed.

"We had sought more funds thinking that the contractor in the western part will be able to make up for the delay. But they could not do so. This is another reason for us not being able to use the total allocated fund," he said told The Daily Star recently.