The Chinese contractor for the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project halted some major work for 25 days since February 10 over pending payments.
Railway authorities say the contractor resumed working on Wednesday following fruitful talks. But several officials requesting anonymity said that physical work for the “fast track” project, the biggest of Bangladesh Railway, was still progressing at a slower-than-usual rate yesterday.
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Meanwhile, the project authority has sought a two-year extension — including a year of defect liability period — of the deadline to complete the project.
The current deadline is June this year.
The project approved in March 2016 will connect the capital with Jashore with a 169km rail line through the Padma bridge under a government to government initiative between Bangladesh and China.
The original cost of the project was Tk 34,989 crore and the deadline was June 2022. But the cost rose to Tk 39,246 crore and the deadline was extended after the first revision of the project.
The Chinese Exim Bank was supposed to lend Tk 21,036.69 crore. The contractor is China Railway Group Ltd, better known as CREC.
The Dhaka-Bhanga section of the rail line was opened in October last year.
Project Director Afzal Hossain said on February 10 the contractor stopped working at the sites of the third line between Kamalapur and Gendaria, a junction at Bhanga, and station at Singia.
“It is true that there were some pending payments. For a project, it is normal. But it is not rational to stop working,” he told this correspondent, adding that the contractor resumed work on Wednesday.
Quamrul Ahsan, director general of railway, said Bangladesh Railway had earlier written to the contractor asking it to resume working.
Asked whether the issue was discussed at yesterday’s meeting between the Chinese ambassador and the railways minister, Quamrul replied in the negative.
Contacted, Li Lin, director (public relations and administration) of CREC for the project, said, “It is true that we had stopped works of the project, but the extent of the works was very small, not any major work. Besides, we have already resumed the works from March 5.
“We did not get our payment since October last year, though we have been requesting BR and the project authority to clear our dues. Since they did not pay our dues, we stopped some small works.”
Replying to another question, he said although BR did not give any assurance about paying the dues soon, the contractor resumed working considering the friendly relationship between Bangladesh and China.
The issue over payment surfaces at a time when the project authority has returned Tk 700 crore from its total allocation of Tk 5,500 crore in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for this fiscal year.
“We would not be able to spend the money in this fiscal year,” said Afzal, the project director.
TIME EXTENSION
As of last month, physical work made 91 percent progress, said Afzal.
Trains can be operated from one end to another after June, he said, adding that all the stations would not be ready by then.
The work will be fully complete by December this year, he said, adding that the one-year defect liability period would be counted from then. The contractor will fix the defects that appear within this period for free.
This is why they have sought time up to June 2026 for completion of the project, he added.
The cost of the project would not be increased due to the time extension, he said.
Daily Star
