Ctg elevated expressway: Cost likely to escalate, wait to lengthen
The cost of the already delayed elevated expressway project in Chattogram city is likely to rise by Tk 1,048 crore and the deadline extended by two more years as a proposal in this regard is set to be placed before an Ecnec meeting today.
Top officials concerned said the cost and implementation time of the project need to be increased due to several changes made to the original design of the structure. They blamed the delay and increased expenditure on taking up the project without conducting a thorough feasibility study.
Port city dwellers have long been suffering on roads due to the construction of the 16 km expressway, stretching from Lalkhan Bazar to Shah Amanat International Airport.
Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) is implementing the project by awarding a contract to Max-Ranken, a joint venture company.
The government approved the project in July 2017 aiming to ease traffic gridlock in the port city and establish smooth links between the city's downtown area and two export processing zones and the international airport at Patenga.
The original cost of the project was Tk 3,250.84 crore and the deadline was June 2020.
According to documents of the housing and public works ministry, the revision proposal for the project would be placed at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) today seeking to increase the project cost to Tk 4298.95 crore, a hike by by 32 percent, and extend the deadline to June 2024.
The deadline of the project was earlier extended twice.
Inclusion of some new components, increase in the quantity and cost of some existing components, and changes to designs of the substructure and superstructure of the expressway because of the change in its alignment are some of the major reasons for the revision of the project, read the ministry documents.
Project Director Md Mahafuzur Rahman, also the executive engineer of CDA, said the original development project proposal (DPP) mentioned about acquiring or purchasing 138 katha of private and public land.
But as a major change in the alignment of the expressway was needed following the opposition from the Chattogram Port Authority, the project required to acquire or purchase 600 katha. This increased the cost of this segment by Tk 200 crore, he said.
The cost of shifting utility lines, including removing electricity poles and laying power cables under the ground, rose to Tk 220 crore from Tk 18 crore, Mahafuzur said, adding that inclusion of new components like construction of toll plazas, drainage system and installation of 100 CCTV cameras escalated the project cost by another Tk 100 crore.
Kazi Wasi Uddin, additional secretary of the housing and public works ministry, who headed a four-member committee to analyse the increased project cost, said the project was taken up hastily without conducting a thorough feasibility study and that's why the alignment and designs needed to be changed.
The project director also said a traffic study was initially done by a team from Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (Cuet) to know whether the expressway is required and the CDA spent only Tk 1 crore on this.
Professor Muinul Islam, eminent economist and former teacher of Chittagong University, said the port city dwellers have been suffering for long due to the delayed implementation of the project.
"The feasibility studies of projects in the country are done in a poor manner and the costs and deadlines often increase three to four times than the initial estimates."
This happens because of weaknesses of the government and project officials, he told The Daily Star, adding that corruption is committed under such circumstances.