India-Funded Projects Face Stalemate

Eight Indian-financed rail and road projects have been without work for 1.5 months, further delaying already lengthy projects.

After the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina fell on August 5, all work came to an abrupt stop as employees of Indian contracting and consulting firms left Bangladesh over safety concerns.

On September 10, Salehuddin Ahmed, the adviser for finance and commerce, stated that projects funded by India would go on because of their significance to the nation.

In addition, Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Pranay Verma announced that Indian contractors would return and pick up the projects that same day when they met with the adviser.

However, the impasse doesn’t appear to be ending anytime soon.

By building the third and fourth lines on the Dhaka-Tongi route and a second line on the Tongi-Joydebpur route, one of these eight projects seeks to increase the capacity of crucial sections that link the capital with the majority of the nation’s rail network.

Without first undertaking a feasibility study or creating detailed designs, the Bangladesh Railway launched the project in November 2012 at a cost of Tk 848.60.

The project’s completion date was set for June 2015, but due to difficulties with the design and tendering process, inadequate planning, and a lack of coordination between various government agencies, actual construction did not begin until February 2019.

As a result, the project’s completion date was moved up to June 2027, and its expenses went up to Tk 3,342, nearly a 300 percent increase.

The project is currently facing a new obstacle after making only 35% of its planned progress as of April of this year.

“After August 5, more than fifty Indians employed by consulting and contracting firms departed the nation, citing security concerns. Therefore, civil work on our projects has been put on hold,” project director Nazneen Ara Keya recently stated.

“The project is getting delayed further due to this situation.”

She said that in order to request the necessary safety precautions, they had written to the relevant authority via the Bangladesh Railway.

Over $7 billion in loans under three lines of credit (LoCs) are expected to be provided by India.

2010 saw the signing of the first LoC, which was worth $862 million and included 15 projects; the second LoC, which was worth $2 billion and included 12 projects, was signed in 2016. A third credit agreement worth $4.5 billion was signed, encompassing 15 projects.

42 projects in total fall under the three LoCs. Out of them, 14 have been finished at an approximate cost of $410 million, or about 6% of the total amount committed under the first two credit agreements.

As per the agreement, all materials related to the project have to be purchased from India, and all consultants and contractors have to be hired from India.

“BILATERAL PROJECTS HAVE BEEN IMPACTED”

Following orders from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, those working on Indian-funded projects departed the city two or three days after the previous government fell in response to a widespread uprising led by students, according to project officials.

According to Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, “bilateral projects have been impacted” by the unrest in Bangladesh, as the Indian Express reported on 30.

The state of law and order has caused work on some of the projects to stall and be negatively impacted. We will speak with (Dhaka) once things have stabilised and normalcy has returned,” he said.

Only the Khulna-Mongla Rail Line remains unfinished out of the six railway projects under an Indian LoC. However, even though it was inaugurated last year, the project is still unofficially ongoing.

According to Bangladesh Railway officials, more delays are anticipated for the five other projects.

The five projects include: rebuilding the Kulaura-Shahbazpur section; converting the metre-gauge into a dual gauge line from Parbatipur to the Kaunia section; building a double line in the Khulna-Darshana section; and building the third and fourth dual gauge lines in the Dhaka-Tongi section and the dual gauge double line in the Tongi-Joydebpur section.

Bangladesh Railways Director General Sardar Shahadat Ali stated that the lack of return from Indian participants in the rail projects was impeding their execution.

Due to the lack of Indian contractors, locals working on the project have not received payment for the last three months, which is causing serious issues for the construction of the third and fourth lines along the Dhaka–Tongi route.

Two other projects are being carried out by the Roads and Highways Department in accordance with the Indian LoC.

At an estimated cost of Tk 3,567.85 crore, one of the projects was to widen the 51-kilometer road that connects the Ashuganj river port and the Akhaura land port to four lanes by 2020.

But the deadline was moved up to June 2025, and the expenses increased to Tk 5,791 crore.

According to Project Director Abdul Awal Molla, the project has made about 50% physical progress thus far.

He told The Daily Star yesterday, “But work is still halted because the Indian nationals involved in the project have not returned yet.”

The second project is currently in the planning stages and aims to construct a 50km road that will connect Brahmanbaria’s Dharkhar to Cumilla’s Mainamati. According to a project official, it hasn’t been hindered.