Land-acquisition cost for Dhaka-Sylhet 4-lane highway project doubles

Land-acquisition cost for Dhaka-Sylhet 4-lane highway project has been doubled over initial estimation through 'engineering' its design, insiders said.

A sort of foot dragging was alleged, thus resulting in time and cost overruns. Failing to complete the land acquisition and relevant works in three years, the Roads and Highways Department sought one and a half years more to complete the tasks, they said.

Besides, the RHD also raised the number of consultants and their costs, sought funds afresh for car and vehicle rents and construction works for road-boundary pillars.

The land-acquisition-and utility-shifting project's cost has been jacked up to Tk 79.82 billion, a steep 105.40 percent rise from the original estimated amount of Tk 38.86 billion.

The state-run road developer had undertaken the Tk 38.86 billion project for land acquisition in 2018 to facilitate the Dhaka (Kanchpur)-Sylhet-Tamabil 4-lane road construction.

According to the original implementation schedule, the project was to be completed in December 2021.

Meanwhile, the government had undertaken two separate projects for widening the Dhaka-Sylhet and Sylhet-Tamabil highways into 4-lane broadways.

The RHD claimed that it had been forced to enhance the cost of their ongoing Tk 38.86 billion project for a fresh land-acquisition policy and revised land map.

It has now decided to acquire 394.79 acres of land for widening the Dhaka-Sylhet 4-lane highways, resulting in Tk 36.61 billion worth of cost escalation for this component.

The RHD recently sought approval for the revised development-project proposal (DPP) from the Planning Commission (PC) for the purpose of land acquisition and utility shifting.

A senior PC official said they had recently received the revised DPP of the RHD from the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.

"We are scrutinising the DPP strictly. We will place the revised project proposals before the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) shortly for checking," he said.

According to RHD's revised project proposal, Tk 36.61 billion worth of funds would be required afresh for 394.791 acres of additional land for the Dhaka-Sylhet highways.

Currently, the RHD has set aside Tk 34.30 billion for acquiring 986.476 acres of land.

Similarly, the department also raised the utility-shifting cost to Tk 8.68 billion, 93 percent higher than the current estimation of Tk 8.68 billion.

A PC official said the RHD has sought a total of Tk 8.68 billion for utility shifting as the "block allocation" which shall not be justified.

"We will seek clarification from the RHD for the sudden trigger of the land-and utility-shifting costs under the project. The agency shall clarify details of land rate and utility-shifting service charges," he said.

"We will try to know about the numbers of electricity poles, gas lines and other utility lines shifting from the current position on the road alignment. We will seek detailed report from the RHD at the PEC," he added.

Besides, the RHD incorporated a new component of building road-boundary pillars in the revised DPP.

The road developer will construct 3,247 boundary poles spending Tk786 million, the revised DPP has estimated.

The RHD also enhanced its number of consultant services through enhancing the original cost.

It has now sought Tk 205.05 million worth of funds for consultancy services for the land acquisition and utility shifting from its initial estimation of Tk 54.68 million.

The RHD has included Tk 6.75 million worth of funds afresh for renting cars and vehicles for the project.

According to the revised proposal, the RHD sought time extension for land acquisition up to June 2023 from the current deadline to December 2021.

Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in February 2021 approved another mega infrastructure project for the region: Tk 169.19 billion South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC): Dhaka-Sylhet Corridor Road Development project.

Also, the ECNEC in September 2020 had approved another project for upgrading the Sylhet-Tamabil highway into four-lane at a cost of Tk 35.86 billion.

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