BR picks Indo-Bangla JV

Bangladesh Railway (BR) has finally chosen a joint-venture company between India and Bangladesh for the Dhaka-Narayanganj railway track development work, nearly two years after construction came to a halt following the exit of the Chinese contractor.

The cost of the project, which involved developing dual gauge track in parallel with the existing metre gauge line, increased from Tk 3.70 billion to Tk 6.58 billion due to the suspension, sources said.

Power Construction Corporation of China Limited expressed its ability to continue more than half of the track development work of the project in a termination letter submitted on March 15, 2023 showing ground of non-payment of their work and delay in getting land for work.

Failing to bring them back into the work, the BR invited fresh tenders on December 24, 2023 and finally selected GPT Infras Project Limited of India and Standard Engineering Limited of Bangladesh.

A Tk 3.16 billion contract between BR and the joint venture was signed at a ceremony at Rail Bhaban on Thursday.

Officials said the new joint venture will carry out 47.5 per cent of the civil work of the project in 18 months at a cost of Tk 3.16 billion. It will also convert the existing metre gauge track into a dual gauge line apart from new track development work.

Project Director Selim Rouf told the FE that the Chinese company had completed embankment, bridge and culvert development work between Dhaka and Narayanganj. Rail track on entire 11.4 km project area, however, was not completed. He noted that due to an increase in volume of work, the project cost has risen while its deadline has now been extended until June 2026.

The BR had taken the project in 2015 setting a target to complete it in 2017, but its failure to select contractors to carry out civil and signaling work in time led to deadline extensions for four times, pushing the timeline to 2023.

smunima@yahoo.com