Delay in JICA loan signing feared
The proposed elevated metro railway project in the capital with Japanese financial assistance has hit a snag as the communications ministry is yet to get approval for it from the ministry of planning, officials said.
The delay in getting approval from the planning ministry is attributed to bureaucratic exercise which raised doubt about the availability of $1.8 billion in credit from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency.
The slow progress of the project which is aimed at improving the chaotic transport system in the capital might cause further delay in loan signing between the government and the Japanese agency, they said.
The ruling party is already in a tight corner on loan availability from the donor agency after the World Bank, which had committed to lend $1.2 billion to the
Padma Multipurpose Bridge project, cancelled the deal.
It would be a further embarrassing for the government if it could not convince JICA to strike the loan deal before it serves out in January 2014.
Communications secretary MAN Siddique told New Age that the ministry was hopeful about getting the approval shortly.
He said other activities in line with the working plans, including selection of a consultant, wee going on. Seven firms took part in the bidding in May.
The consultant would be responsible for designing and supervising the work, he said.
JICA, which had committed to provide the loan for the project, set up time-bound working plans in last December in consultation with the government.
The ministry of communications has sought approval for the project in January last in line with the working plan. But the project plan was not approved until last week.
The working plans suggested that the approval process for the project should be completed before April.
Selection of routes of the metro railway has already delayed the project by more than one year after the Air Force had raised objection to the original route alignment that was to pass through Bijay Sarani.
The government bowed to the pressure and changed the route.
Dhaka Transport Coordination Board director SM Salehuddin said the government had finalised the route alignment through Khamarbari and Sangsad Bhaban area instead of Bijay Sarani.
JICA has already completed a feasibility study on the 26-km metro system from Uttara to Sayedabad via Pallabi, Chandrima Udyan, Khamarbari, Shahbagh, Bangla Academy, Curzon Hall, Topkhana and Bangladesh Bank.
Additional routes would be introduced in future. Around 40,000 to 45,000 people would be able to travel the route in an hour.
Courtesy of New Age
