Bangladesh Railway is afraid Tapas
A very important project of Bangladesh Railway is construction of Dhaka-Tongi 3rd and 4th line railway. Its alignment is pending due to obstruction by former mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapas.
From the Khilgaon Levelcrossing Gate to the Mosque there are Khilgaon Kacharasta market shops, which have to be removed up to the pier of the flyover. But this part could not be removed in coordination with Dhaka South City Corporation. Due to this, the railway authorities could not explain the site to the contractor. And because of the obstruction of former mayor Tapas.
According to sources, Dhaka South City Corporation has illegal shops on railway land in Dhaka station area. The then mayor of the South City Corporation could not be removed due to the obstruction of Tapas. Apart from this, Railways has written to the City Corporation for removal of street lights, cables and sewerage of Dhaka South City Corporation at the site of Khilgaon-Malibagh section. But it was not possible because of the mayor Tapas of that time. As Tapas is currently in hiding, it was not possible to get his statement.
It is known that if Dhaka-Tongi third and fourth line and Tongi-Joidebpur double line project is implemented, 250 trains will be able to run in Dhaka-Tongi section and 90 trains in Tongi-Joidebpur section. Dhaka will have four lines from Kamalapur to Tongi and two lines from Tongi-Joidebpur and 30 km loop line at eight stations. In all, a total of 137 kilometers of railway will be constructed. The approved project cost is Tk 3 thousand 342 crores.
Another problem with this project is the non-approval of Exim Bank of India. 322.88 million dollar project loan is required in the second amendment DPP of the project. But the Indian LoC-1 loan amount in favor of the project is $301.10 million. A letter was sent by the Department of Economic Relations to the Indian Embassy on September 7, 2023 for approval of an additional loan of $21.78 million. Despite several rounds of letters over the past 13 months, the funding has not been resolved. As a result, no objection is being granted to third variation of work (WD-1) from Exim Bank. Apart from this, tenders for consultant package (SD-2) cannot be invited.
The railway authorities said that the budget allocation for the year 2024-25 is Tk 643 crore for the project. The total expenditure of this financial year up to September is 6 crore rupees. This is only 1 percent of the total allocation. The third variation of WD-1 needs allocated funds for various goods transportation and construction works including rail, seaper, turn out within six-seven months of signing the agreement. However, if the variation agreement is not signed within the month of November, it is not possible to spend the entire allocation.
In this regard, the Director General of Railways, Sardar Shahadat Ali, said that the matter has been reported to the Exim Bank of India. As the project is Indian debt, additional funds are required as per DPP amendment.
According to railway sources, the approval date for this project is 13 November 2012. As per the latest revision, the project tenure is 30th June 2027. Overall physical progress is 36.51 percent and financial progress is 31.10 percent.
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Credit: Dainikamadersomoy
