Akhaura-Agartala Link: A series of never-ending delays
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Loading... - Dhruv Patel
- 07 Apr 2022
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The Akhaura-Agartala Rail Link, a Bangladesh Railway (BR) project, was supposed to be completed within December 2018.
Although more than two and a half years since the estimated deadline has passed, the project witnessed only 53 percent progress till February this year.
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The project authority has sought another year to complete it, with the current deadline expiring in June this year.
Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan and Indian High Commissioner Vikram Kumar Doraiswami have expressed their disappointment over the slow progress of the project, which is being implemented with an Indian grant.
Both the minister and high commissioner are expected to visit the site in Brahmanbaria today to draw the next work plan for salvaging the project, said BR sources.
Sources also said top officials of the ministry, BR and project will be accompanying them.
The Ecnec approved the project in August 2016 to improve rail connectivity and boost trade between Bangladesh and India.
Under the Tk 477.8 crore project, a 14.26km dual-gauge rail line has been planned to be constructed to open a new interchange between Bangladesh's Akhaura and Agartala in India's Tripura.
The rail link is expected to open up markets of India's north-eastern states for Bangladesh, enhance smooth transportation of goods, facilitate people to people contact and reduce transport cost and time. However, the project has seen delays since the very beginning.
BR only managed to sign a contract with an Indian company in May 2018 regarding the project, just seven months before the original deadline of the construction in December 2018.
The project document shows that it is currently running on the third time extension due to slow work progress and pandemic.
The construction work remained halted from March to June 2020, due to the lockdown. It saw yet another halt when the government issued yet another lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus in April last year.
Indian officials, in a virtual meeting held in December last year, even proposed replacing the project contractor with another Indian contractor, according to sources present in the meeting.
However, representatives from Bangladesh did not agree to it right away, as they needed approval from the high-ups.
The Indian envoy met the minister at Rail Bhaban on March 23 and talked about different projects funded by India with loans and grants.
After the meeting, the ministry issued a press release, mentioning that both the minister and the high commissioner expressed disappointment over the project's slow progress.
Their plans to visit the project site to set an action plan were also mentioned in the release.
The project witnessed progress of only eight percent in the last 23 months since March 2020, according to project documents. Read More...
