Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Highway: Estimated outlay jumps before project approval

The proposed Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Highway development project will be setting an example of how poor planning and uncertainty over funding can escalate the implementation costs sharply.

Even before the project got the nod, its estimated cost has increased by 25 percent or about Tk 2,800 crore -- which is more than the Roads and Highways Department's annual budget for road maintenance in last fiscal year, officials said.

In the original development project proposal (DPP) submitted to Road Transport and Highway Division earlier this year, the cost for turning the 129.17-kilometre highway into a four-lane with service road on both sides was estimated to be Tk 11,050.04 crore.

Now, the cost has spiralled to Tk 13,841.11 crore, according to the re-casted DPP submitted last month.

The cost jump has been pinned on the change in RHD's rate schedule, according to officials. RHD would be implementing the project.

The original DPP was prepared following RHD's rate schedule for 2019 and the re-casted one is based on the latest rate schedule approved this year.

This cost -- Tk 13,841.11 crore -- would be on top of the cost of another project that would be taken up for land accusation and utility relocation for the expansion of the two-lane highway.

The estimated cost for land acquisition and utility relocation is Tk 4,236.60 crore, so the total cost of expansion of the road would be Tk 18,077.71 crore -- making it the costliest RHD project.

But the project is necessary.

The country is failing to reap the maximum benefit of the enhanced connectivity after the opening of Padma bridge and Madhimati bridge as the road from Faridpur's Bhanga to Jashore's Benapole is still not ready for increased vehicular movement.

THE PROJECT

A plan for turning the two-lane Bhanga-Benapole road into a four-lane highway was chalked out long ago but it saw little progress thanks to uncertainty over funding.

Bangladesh in October 2017 signed a $4.5 billion line of credit agreement with India and the Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole road expansion is one of the projects selected, RHD officials said.

RHD in July 2019 submitted a DPP to the Road Transport and Highways Division for acquiring land and moving the utility services lines as part of preparations for starting the physical work.

But the Planning Commission asked RHD to recast the DPP.

When RHD re-submitted it to the division again after the necessary changes, the commission in February asked for another recast.

RHD resubmitted the DPP three-four months ago, where the cost for acquiring land and moving the utility services lines has been put down as Tk 4,236.60 crore. The government will bear the full cost.

On the other hand, RHD in December 2020 placed a DPP for the main project. But the division in June 2021 asked RHD to recast it.

When the DPP was resubmitted with an estimated cost of Tk 11,050.04 crore, the division asked RHD to recast it again early this year.

RHD last month resubmitted DPP again with an estimated cost of Tk 13,84 1.11 crore, of which Tk 11,082.52 crore is expected to come as a foreign loan, RHD officials said.

Meanwhile, RHD, under a project funded by Asian Development Bank, completed a feasibility study and detailed design of the project in December 2021, the sources said.

Contacted, Road Transport and Highway Division Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri said they have received the DPP but he has to go through it for making comments about the cost increase.

The secretary, however, said the cost of the project may increase due to the increase in the cost of construction materials and land.

Asked whether India has confirmed funding, Nuri said: "I have to check before making comments on it."