Another mega project is going to be added to the wings of development in the Southwest region of the country. After many ups and downs, the country's second largest seaport Mongla is going to be opened in the last week of October.
The railway line will be officially inaugurated by the end of October. Apart from this, there is a plan to build this new rail route as an international rail route. Mongla-Khulna railway line construction project director Arifuzzaman confirmed this while visited the mongla-Khulna railway line on Saturday.
After observing, it was seen that the construction of Mongla-Khulna railway line is nearing completion. The work is going on with a plan to start the rail service from Khulna-Mongla railway line (Phultala railway station to Digraj of Mongla port) by the end of October next year. 98 percent of the railway work has been completed. Only two per cent of the remaining railway tracks and some finishing work are underway. These works will be completed within this month.
Project Director Md Arifuzzaman said the construction of the project started in 2010 to establish a railway line from Khulna's Phultala railway station to Mongla port jetty to make easier to transport goods from Mongla port to India, Nepal and Bhutan under the transit facility. Initially, the project was supposed to be completed in December 2013, but the contractor could not able to completed.
He said the Mongla-Khulna railway line construction project was approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on December 21, 2010. In the first phase, the cost of the project was estimated at Tk 1,721 crore. As the project was not completed on time, the cost of the first amendment increased to Tk 3,801. The project was supposed to be completed in December 2021, but it could not be done.
However, after the second round of amendments, the deadline was last extended till December 31, 2022. At the same time, the cost increased to Tk 4,260.88 crore. Meanwhile, Indian contractor Larsen & Toubro has constructed a railway bridge over the Rupsa River. The rest of the work was done by Indian contractor Ircon International. The project is divided into three parts. These include the construction of a railway bridge over the Rupsa River, the establishment of the main railway line and the installation of telecommunication and signalling.
From the beginning, the project faced many obstacles. It takes two years to hire a contractor for the three-year work. Due to this slow pace, the three-year project increased from Tk 1,721 crore to Tk 4,260 crore. This cost has increased by Tk 2,539 crore due to the project revision in two phases. However, in the third phase, the project was extended, but the cost did not increase, the officials claimed.
JH
