New Kalurghat bridge to cost Tk 14,000cr now

A new rail-plus-road bridge at Kalurghat in Chattogram is going to cost almost 12 times the initial estimate because the authorities spent nine years doing multiple feasibility studies and designing and redesigning the bridge.

In 2014, the government decided to build the new bridge and decommission the British-era single-lane rail and road bridge there.

In 2018, a Detailed Project Proposal (DPP) was prepared for a single rail line and double-lane road bridge that would cost Tk 1,163.27 crore.

Now, the bridge would have double-line dual-gauge rail lines and a double-lane road on the same deck. The bridge is going to cost about Tk 14,000 crore and South Korea, last month, gave consent for a loan.

Apart from the design changes, multiple feasibility studies, delays, the high price of construction materials, and having to give vessels plying the Karnaphuli more clearance are blamed for the cost escalation.

Since it would take 2028 to build the new bridge, Bangladesh Railway will also have to keep footing the old bridge's repair bills, which can be over Tk 50 crore.

BR has hired a Buet team to give recommendations for the restoration of the bridge as later this year it is going to open the Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox's Bazar rail line, of which the bridge is part.

The bridge built in 1931 over the Karnaphuli has become almost unsafe and the authorities have to repair the bridge occasionally to keep it usable. Trains have a speed limit of 10kmph on the bridge.

In 1962, the metre-gauge single-line rail bridge was reconfigured so that vehicles could use it too.

People from Boalkhali upazila, east of Patiya and south of Rangunia upazilas, and Chandgaon and Mohora areas have no alternative to the bridge to cross the river.

SAGA OF INDECISIONS

In April 2014, the government decided to build the new bridge in cooperation with South Korea.

In February 2015, the government sought technical help from the Economic Development Co-operation Fund (EDCF) of South Korea to carry out a feasibility study.

The study published in December 2015 recommended building a two-lane road and single-line rail bridge.

Four months after preparing a DPP for the new bridge with an estimated cost of Tk 1,163.27 crore, BR in October 2018 decided it would build a dedicated rail bridge with double lines.

In 2019, another feasibility study was launched but it was suspended as the authorities realised that Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority in November 2018 put the Karnaphuli in a different category for which the bridge would need to give more clearance to vessels.

In the meantime, BR continued to go back and forth over the design.

Another study, with EDCF's fund, was launched in 2021 and it preliminarily recommended a double-decker bridge with a double-lane road on top and a dual-gauge double-line rail line on the bottom.

But the Prime Minister's Office in August 2022 directed that the bridge be single-decker with a double-line dual-gauge rail line and double-lane road, sources said.

12 TIMES THE COST

A joint venture of Yooshin Engineering Corporation and Dohwa Engineering completed a study early this year and estimated the project cost would be $1,342.34 million or Tk 13,824.19 crore ($1=Tk103).

Of the total, $712.51 million or Tk 7,338.9 crore is expected to come from a Korean loan while the rest will be paid by the government.

The cost may increase further if the current dollar rate ($1= Tk107) is taken into account.

Sources said after the PMO changed the design, the cost increased by Tk 250 crore.

COST ESCALATION

BR sources said when the DPP was prepared in 2018, the length of the proposed bridge was 3km, with 1km of the main bridge and 2km of embankments, with a vessel clearance of 7.62 metres.

They said now the clearance has to be 12.2 metres and this has increased the total bridge length to 11.74km -- 1km main bridge, 5km of viaducts on both sides and 5.74km of embankments on both sides.

"This is a major reason behind the cost escalation," a BR official said, adding that the decision to have a bigger bridge with more capacity and the price of construction materials were the other reasons.

"It would have been better to have built the bridge in the previous attempt as we have to spend a huge amount of money now," the official said.

Contacted, BR Director General Quamrul Ahsan said the cost is not supposed to be that high. "I can comment after getting information [from officials concerned]," he told The Daily Star yesterday.