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Bangabandhu tunnel: Expenditure much higher than income
According to the bridge division, over 4,500 vehicles have used the tunnel every day on average so far. It was predicted that at least four times that number of vehicles would use the tunnel. Daily average income from the toll of the tunnel is Tk 11,80,000 taka. On the other hand, the average...
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Bangabandhu tunnel: Expenditure much higher than income
Anwar Hossain & Sujan GhoseDhaka and Chattogram
Published: 28 May 2024, 08: 44
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel in ChattogramFile photo
The tunnel built under the Karnaphuli River in Chattogram is not getting as much traffic as expected yet resulting in less than expected toll collection. As of now, the revenue generated from the tunnel is much less than maintenance costs and toll collection.
According to the bridge division, over 4,500 vehicles have used the tunnel every day on average so far. It was predicted that at least four times that number of vehicles would use the tunnel. Daily average income from the toll of the tunnel is Tk 11,80,000 taka. On the other hand, the average daily expenditure for collection and maintenance of this toll is Tk 3.75 million.
The main length of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel built under the Karnaphuli river is 3.32 km. It is the first under-river tunnel in the country. The tunnel was built with Chinese loans and Bangladesh government funding.
Sources from Bangladesh Bridges Authority said paying the installments of loan taken from China would start from this year. As the income is less than expected, maintenance cost would have to be paid from income generated from other bridges. As a result, the government will have to pay a subsidy from the revenue sector to pay the loan.
The tunnel has eased the commute as crossing the road now takes three to three and half minutes. However, economists , businessmen and bridges authority said the roads on the one side of the tunnel were not widened. The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) has not taken much initiative to expand the city on the other side of Karnaphuli river. There should be industrialization centering the tunnel. The use of the tunnel could be increased once these initiatives are taken.
Bridges division's secretary Md Monjur Hossain told Prothom Alo that work to connect Cox's Bazar and Matarbari with the tunnel is going on. The use of the tunnel and income would increase if it can be connected with Cox's Bazar and Matarbari roads.
About the repayment of the installment of the Chinese loan, he said the matter is now under the finance ministry.
To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.
Anwar Hossain & Sujan GhoseDhaka and Chattogram
Published: 28 May 2024, 08: 44
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel in ChattogramFile photo
The tunnel built under the Karnaphuli River in Chattogram is not getting as much traffic as expected yet resulting in less than expected toll collection. As of now, the revenue generated from the tunnel is much less than maintenance costs and toll collection.
According to the bridge division, over 4,500 vehicles have used the tunnel every day on average so far. It was predicted that at least four times that number of vehicles would use the tunnel. Daily average income from the toll of the tunnel is Tk 11,80,000 taka. On the other hand, the average daily expenditure for collection and maintenance of this toll is Tk 3.75 million.
The main length of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel built under the Karnaphuli river is 3.32 km. It is the first under-river tunnel in the country. The tunnel was built with Chinese loans and Bangladesh government funding.
Sources from Bangladesh Bridges Authority said paying the installments of loan taken from China would start from this year. As the income is less than expected, maintenance cost would have to be paid from income generated from other bridges. As a result, the government will have to pay a subsidy from the revenue sector to pay the loan.
The tunnel has eased the commute as crossing the road now takes three to three and half minutes. However, economists , businessmen and bridges authority said the roads on the one side of the tunnel were not widened. The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) has not taken much initiative to expand the city on the other side of Karnaphuli river. There should be industrialization centering the tunnel. The use of the tunnel could be increased once these initiatives are taken.
Bridges division's secretary Md Monjur Hossain told Prothom Alo that work to connect Cox's Bazar and Matarbari with the tunnel is going on. The use of the tunnel and income would increase if it can be connected with Cox's Bazar and Matarbari roads.
About the repayment of the installment of the Chinese loan, he said the matter is now under the finance ministry.
To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.
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Feasibility study for MRT Line-4 begins in June
The metro rail authority will start the feasibility study for Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-4 next month, which is supposed to link Dhaka with Narayanganj's Madanpur.
The consultants hired for the job have reached Dhaka and held a meeting with the metro railway authorities on Monday.
"They [consultants] will first visit the project area and will mobilise their manpower to start the study next month," MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), told The Daily Star on Monday.
He said a consortium of four South Korean companies will carry out the feasibility study and prepare a basic design for the project. Korea will finance the work.
The consortium is supposed to complete the work within one and a half years, he said, adding that they will prepare the project's basic design to get its estimated cost.
The physical works on MRT Line-1 and MRT Line-5 (northern route) started last year, while a project proposal for MRT Line-5 (southern route) is now pending with the Planning Commission for approval.
MRT Line 4 and 2 are lagging behind in terms of preparation and may miss the deadline to complete the lines within 2030, officials said.
Although feasibility of MRT Line-4 is going to start, the financier for the feasibility study of MRT Line-2 has not yet been found, let alone hiring a consultant for the work, they added.
Once the feasibility studies are done and financiers are found, the authorities will have to go through a long process -- preparing a project proposal, having it approved, acquiring land, preparing a detailed design, and floating tenders to hire contractors, they said.
All these preparatory works usually take three to four years, which is why the authorities may not be able to meet the deadline for these projects, officials feared.
Asked whether they will be able to complete MRT Lines 2 and 4 within the stipulated time, Siddique said, "Let us start the work first, and then we will figure out if we can meet the deadline."
As per the preliminary plan, MRT Line-4 is supposed to be built from Kamalapur to Narayanganj underground.
However, metro rail authorities later changed the plan as Bangladesh Railway is expanding the existing lines from Dhaka to Narayanganj.
Its new 16km route will stretch from Dhaka to Narayanganj's Madanpur via Signboard. In May last year, the government signed a MoU with South Korea to finance the project.
As per the pre-feasibility study, the route will have both underground and elevated sections. The possible alignment would be Kamalapur, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Shanir Akhra, Signboard, Chittagong Road, Kanchapur and Madanpur.
The metro rail authority will start the feasibility study for Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-4 next month, which is supposed to link Dhaka with Narayanganj's Madanpur.
The consultants hired for the job have reached Dhaka and held a meeting with the metro railway authorities on Monday.
"They [consultants] will first visit the project area and will mobilise their manpower to start the study next month," MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), told The Daily Star on Monday.
He said a consortium of four South Korean companies will carry out the feasibility study and prepare a basic design for the project. Korea will finance the work.
The consortium is supposed to complete the work within one and a half years, he said, adding that they will prepare the project's basic design to get its estimated cost.
The physical works on MRT Line-1 and MRT Line-5 (northern route) started last year, while a project proposal for MRT Line-5 (southern route) is now pending with the Planning Commission for approval.
MRT Line 4 and 2 are lagging behind in terms of preparation and may miss the deadline to complete the lines within 2030, officials said.
Although feasibility of MRT Line-4 is going to start, the financier for the feasibility study of MRT Line-2 has not yet been found, let alone hiring a consultant for the work, they added.
Once the feasibility studies are done and financiers are found, the authorities will have to go through a long process -- preparing a project proposal, having it approved, acquiring land, preparing a detailed design, and floating tenders to hire contractors, they said.
All these preparatory works usually take three to four years, which is why the authorities may not be able to meet the deadline for these projects, officials feared.
Asked whether they will be able to complete MRT Lines 2 and 4 within the stipulated time, Siddique said, "Let us start the work first, and then we will figure out if we can meet the deadline."
As per the preliminary plan, MRT Line-4 is supposed to be built from Kamalapur to Narayanganj underground.
However, metro rail authorities later changed the plan as Bangladesh Railway is expanding the existing lines from Dhaka to Narayanganj.
Its new 16km route will stretch from Dhaka to Narayanganj's Madanpur via Signboard. In May last year, the government signed a MoU with South Korea to finance the project.
As per the pre-feasibility study, the route will have both underground and elevated sections. The possible alignment would be Kamalapur, Sayedabad, Jatrabari, Shanir Akhra, Signboard, Chittagong Road, Kanchapur and Madanpur.
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Saif
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Why does budget ignore public transport?
Nobody expects the annual national budget to solve various socio-economic problems, as the budget is never a panacea. What is, however, rationally expected is that the finance minister's budget speech would recognise the key problems. Once the issues are recognised, an opportunity is provided to de
Why does budget ignore public transport?
TANIM ASJAD
Published :
Jun 07, 2024 21:40
Updated :
Jun 07, 2024 21:40
Nobody expects the annual national budget to solve various socio-economic problems, as the budget is never a panacea. What is, however, rationally expected is that the finance minister's budget speech would recognise the key problems. Once the issues are recognised, an opportunity is provided to devise some realistic measures or guidelines to overcome them. Going through the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY25), it is disappointing to find that the annual public expenditure outlay pays little attention to citizens' smooth and efficient mobility. In other words, it has no well-thought-out spending plan for revamping the country's public transport.
The lack of attention to public transport in the budget is not a recent development. For the past few years, this scribe has been tracking this trend. Absence of policymakers' concern about public transport is evident in their focus on expensive infrastructure projects, leaving little time for the development of an efficient public transport system. This lack of focus has led to a situation where, apart from the Dhaka Metro Rail, there is little pragmatic effort to address the public transport issues in the country. The finance minister in his budget speech, delivered on Thursday last, mentioned the 'public transport' only once and that also in reference to the metro rail.
Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and also one of the most populous countries. Dhaka is one of the most densely populated megacities across the globe. So, it is not possible to ensure smooth and fast mobility of millions of inhabitants in the city without an efficient public transport system. Moreover, bus-oriented public transport may provide a better solution in this already congested, chaotic city.
To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.
TANIM ASJAD
Published :
Jun 07, 2024 21:40
Updated :
Jun 07, 2024 21:40
Nobody expects the annual national budget to solve various socio-economic problems, as the budget is never a panacea. What is, however, rationally expected is that the finance minister's budget speech would recognise the key problems. Once the issues are recognised, an opportunity is provided to devise some realistic measures or guidelines to overcome them. Going through the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY25), it is disappointing to find that the annual public expenditure outlay pays little attention to citizens' smooth and efficient mobility. In other words, it has no well-thought-out spending plan for revamping the country's public transport.
The lack of attention to public transport in the budget is not a recent development. For the past few years, this scribe has been tracking this trend. Absence of policymakers' concern about public transport is evident in their focus on expensive infrastructure projects, leaving little time for the development of an efficient public transport system. This lack of focus has led to a situation where, apart from the Dhaka Metro Rail, there is little pragmatic effort to address the public transport issues in the country. The finance minister in his budget speech, delivered on Thursday last, mentioned the 'public transport' only once and that also in reference to the metro rail.
Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and also one of the most populous countries. Dhaka is one of the most densely populated megacities across the globe. So, it is not possible to ensure smooth and fast mobility of millions of inhabitants in the city without an efficient public transport system. Moreover, bus-oriented public transport may provide a better solution in this already congested, chaotic city.
To read the rest of the news, please click on the link above.
