Railway’s Dhaka-Chittagong Development Umbrella Project consultancy cost has increased by over 21% as the 2013 political unrest delays the implementation works, said official sources.
Besides, rise of construction materials prices and increase of value of US dollar against taka have also contributed to the hike of cost, they said.
A proposal of cost variation in the Dhaka-Chittagong Development Project will be placed by the railway ministry today at the meeting of cabinet committee on public purchase for approval.
A railway official said most of the project works had been delayed as the authorities concerned failed to hand over project sites in due time, said a railway official.
Railway Minister Md Mujibul Haque told Dhaka Tribune that the consultancy cost might increase due to the increase of implementation time.
He, however, didn’t mention political turmoil as a reason behind this rise of cost.
The minister said the increase of prices of construction materials had also an impact on the rise of cost of Dhaka-Chittagong Development Project.
The project’s joint venture consultancy firms from Australia, Germany, Japan and Bangladesh will increase by Tk21.81 crores from existing cost of Tk47.09 crore, said the proposal. The total consultancy cost will be Tk70.91 crore.
After imposition of tax and VAT, the actutal rise will amount to Tk23.81 crore.
Joint venture firms are Canarail Consulting Inc. association with SMEC international Pty Ltd of Australia, DB International GmBH of Germany and association with as Sub-Consultant ACE Consultants Ltd of Bangladesh and Dainichi Consultants Japan.
The implementation time for a sub-project of Dhaka-Chittagong Development Project has increased by 45 days due to political turmoil at the end of 2013.
The authorities concerned also handed over Chittagong Station yard to consultant firms after 388 days.
The increase of value of US dollar against taka has also contributed to the rise of project’s consultancy cost by two times.
The railway ministry proposal said the cabinet committee on public purchase had appointed joint venture consultant firms in 2009 to end the works at the end of 2016.
The Japanese soft-loan lending agency Jica funded railway’s Dhaka-Chittagong Development Umbrella Project approved at the Executive Committee on National Economic Council (Ecnec) in 2007 and the project cost was Tk115 crore.
Of total project cost, Jica funds Tk77 crore and the rest of the money comes from the government exchequer.
The project works include construction of Laksam-Chinki Astana double line, remodelling of Chittagong station yard, Pahartali workshop development, procurement of 11 mitre gauge locomotives and undertaking of four investment sub-projects.
Further, a technical assistance sub-project was also included in the umbrella project to provide consultancy services in designing and formulating of tender documents of four investment sub-projects, assisting the assessment of tender papers and implementing of the projects.