Budget FY22: Railway gets more allocation for mega projects

Despite its failure to fully spend its budgetary allotment of the 2020-2021 fiscal, the government has decided to increase the allocation for the Ministry of Railways in the upcoming fiscal year intending to improve connectivity.

In the budget proposed for the 2021-22 fiscal on Thursday, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal set aside Tk17,542 crore for railways, some Tk1,216 crore more than the previous one.

It was proposed in the previous fiscal that the ministry get Tk16,326, but the amount was dropped down to Tk15,496 crore due to slow progress in the implementation of the mega projects.

Bangladesh Railway is currently implementing 36 projects, including three mega projects, to improve and modernize its services.

The three mega projects are the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project (PBRLP), the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Gundam Rail Link Project and the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Construction Project, on which over half of the total proposed allocation is supposed to be used.

Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan on Tuesday said that an additional six months would be needed to complete the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Gundam Rail Link Project.

“It will be possible to open the Mawa-Bhanga segment of the PBRLP to traffic in June next year. Meanwhile, the Dhaka-Mawa section is scheduled to be opened by June 2023 and the whole project will be implemented by June 2024,” he said.

“As we are getting a large allocation for the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge Construction Project, we will try our utmost to utilize the funds properly,” he added.