The Padma Bridge Rail Link Project (PBRLP) is to be the main transportation channel connecting central Bangladesh to the western and southwestern parts of the country, across the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, by June 2024.
The government plans to open a portion of the rail route, the 14km Mawa and Bhanga priority portion of the 168.6km long rail link, in 2021.
However, the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, delay in land acquisition, and the lack of proper supervision are greatly impacting the progress of the much-hyped mega project which is expected to give the country's GDP a substantial boost.
Bangladesh Railway (BR) authorities are yet to hand over the required land for the project to China Railway Group Limited (CREC), the company responsible for the construction of the rail link.
BR symbolically handed over 134km of land to CREC, which accounts for 73.4% of the total alignment, but CREC claims that 30km of the total land handed over is not accessible due to the unfinished land acquisition and resettlement process.
Moreover, of this 30km of inaccessible land, 6.4km is needed for the Mawa and Bhanga priority portion, which the government plans to open by 2021
Wang Kun, project director of PBRLP, in talking to Dhaka Tribune, said: "The inaccessible land is hampering work progress of the rail project."
Responding to which, Golam Fakruddin A Chowdhury, project director of PBRLP, BR, said: "We have been solving the land acquisition problem gradually with the help of the Bangladesh Army."
"We have already acquired 1700 acres of land in eight districts. But due to some complications we decided to acquire more land from five other districts. We have already sent letters to the offices of the concerned deputy commissioners to take steps in this regard," he added.
Adding to the list of issues, CREC officials also said the process of getting approvals for the structural drawings by the Bangladesh Army, and the cosultant supervision of the project, is slow.
According to a CREC official, as many as 300 engineers have been mobilized by them for designing different components of the whole project, but the supervisory consultant authority only has a handful of engineers for reviewing and approving purposes.
“Thus the supervision consultant body frequently fails to approve our submitted drawings within the stipulated time,” he added.
When asked about the measures taken to tackle the ongoing crisis, Fakruddin said: "Bangladesh Railway, Bangladesh Army, and the construction company are working together to address all the problems."
Furthermore, due to the coronavirus outbreak worldwide, around 186 Chinese nationals working on the project are still stuck in China. The deadly virus has also slowed down the materials import process from China, which is essential for the timely construction of the much awaited rail link.
Benefits of PBRLP
Once completed, the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project (PBRLP) will better the connectivity of the country to an unprecedented level.
The new rail link will shorten the current travel distance between the capital, Jessore, and Khulna, by 308km.
It will also reduce the distance from Dhaka to Darsana and Benapole by 168km and 318km respectively, saving passengers hours in travel time.
This project is expected to boost the economic development of Bangladesh, especially that of the southwestern parts of the country, increasing the GDP by 1.5%.
The main line of the rail link is designed to be a single track broad gauge (1,676mm) on which passenger trains will run at a top speed of 120kmh while freight trains will operate at 80kmh.