Khulna Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Saiful Islam inspected the near-completion of a state-of-the-art steel silo for wheat, part of the Maheshwarpasha Modern Food Preservation Project, during a site visit this morning (6 October).
Located within the Maniktala Food Warehouse along the Bhairab River, the project is designed to modernise wheat storage in Bangladesh. The deputy commissioner toured the facility and then held a meeting with Food Department officials and Max Group representatives, the contractor responsible for the construction. He inquired into the progress and expressed keen interest in ensuring the timely completion of the remaining work.
The project, with a budget of BDT 355.91 crore, is set to be completed by December 2024, with 82.2% of construction already finished.
Officials on site informed the Deputy Commissioner that the final stages are expected to be completed within the next two months.
The silo, construction of which began on January 12, 2022, is being developed through a joint venture between Bangladesh's Max Group and Turkish firm Altuntas. The Bangladesh government and the World Bank are co-funding the initiative.
Once operational, the silo will have the capacity to store 76,200 metric tons of wheat, preserving it for up to three years without degradation in quality. This will be achieved through advanced technology that eliminates human contact with the stored grain.
The facility consists of six massive storage bins, each capable of holding 12,700 metric tons of wheat.
Officials on site informed the Deputy Commissioner that the final stages are expected to be completed within the next two months
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The Bangladesh Railway is likely to drop its plan to construct rail tracks that would connect Bangladesh and neighbouring Myanmar, apparently in the face of non-cooperation from the other country.
Railway officials said that a proposal is now under consideration to forgo the plan to construct rail tracks to connect Ramu with Gundum (Myanmar) and the proposal is scheduled to be sent to the railways ministry within this week for next step.
The ‘Construction of Single Line Dual Gauge Track on Dohazari-Ramu-Cox’s Bazar and Ramu-Gundum (Myanmar)’ project began in July 2010, aimed at connecting with the trans-Asian railway corridor and bringing Cox’s Bazar under the rail network.
The Asian Development Bank and the government of Bangladesh are jointly funding the project at an estimated Tk 18,034.47 crore budget.
The first phase of the project has so far achieved 96 per cent overall progress.
Bangladesh Railway director general Md Quamrul Ahsan, however, said that the decision of not implementing the project’s second phase was taken two to three years ago.
‘As Myanmar did not construct any line at their part or they still don’t have any plan for that, we also will not construct the section under the second phase for now,’ he said.
He mentioned that from the very beginning Myanmar did not show any interest to construct the rail track on their portion.
Under the project, in phase one, a 102-kilometre railway line has already been built on the Dohazari–Ramu-Cox’s Bazar section.
In phase two, the project was scheduled to construct a 28.752km track on the Ramu–Gundum (Myanmar) section.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Dohazari–Cox’s Bazar section on November 11, 2023, establishing direct rail connection between the capital and the town with the world’s longest beach amid much enthusiasm from the passengers.
A copy of the second revised development project proforma/proposal for the project read that now the project office is proposing to reduce the cost from Tk 18,034.47 crore to Tk 12,713.2 crore, cutting Tk 5,321.27 crore.
As per the proposal, the loan assistance will be Tk 9,093 crore and the government fund will be Tk 3,620 crore.
Project director Md Shuboktagin told New Age on Sunday that the project cost is proposed to reduce as currently the railway is implementing only the first phase of the project.
‘Now the rail tracks from Ramu to Gundum will not be constructed,’ he said, and added that among some other reasons for reducing the project cost is low rate of the tender for the project.
The project director said that currently the proposal is at the Bangladesh Railway and then it will be sent to the railways ministry at first and then to the Planning Commission for final approval.
‘The proposal may be sent to the railways ministry within this week,’ Md Shuboktagin said, adding that if the proposal for second revision is approved, the project office would return the money to the lending agency—Asian Development Bank.
The development project proposal was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for the first time on July 6, 2010 to be implemented by December 2013 at an estimated cost of Tk 1,852.35 crore.
Although inaugurated in April 2011, the project was delayed for lack of fund, said officials.
After a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank in 2016 for loan assistance, the work under the project finally started that year.
In April 2016, the national economic council approved the first revised project extending the deadline till June 2022 with an estimated cost of Tk 18,034.47 crore. The cost sharing stood at—loan assistance Tk 13,115.4 crore and government funding Tk 4,919.06 crore.
Officials said that the project cost increased by a massive amount of Tk 16,182 crore for different cost factors including, construction, land acquisition, physical contingency and price adjustment.
The Bangladesh Railway is likely to drop its plan to construct rail tracks that would connect Bangladesh and neighbouring Myanmar, apparently in the face of...
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