ECNEC clears Tk 36.02b project for expanding railway services

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved 14 projects, including one to improve and expand the railway services by collecting 40 diesel electric locomotives, 125 luggage vans, 700 covered wagons and 300 Bogie open wagons, reports UNB.

The approval came from the last ECNEC meeting of the outgoing fiscal year, held at the NEC conference room in the city’s Agargaon area with ECNEC chairperson and prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

"Today, ECNEC approved 14 projects with an estimated cost of Tk 161.47 billion," said planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal while briefing reporters after the meeting.

Of the total cost, Tk 132.84 billion will come from government funds, while Tk 28.40 billion as project assistance and the rest Tk 238.90 million from the organisations' own funds.

Of the 14 projects, nine are new while the rest five are revised ones.

About the railway project, the planning minister said the Bangladesh Railway Rolling Stock Operation Development (Rolling Stock Collection) Project involving the estimated cost of Tk 36.02 billion has been taken to expand the railway services.

He said the main activities of the project include collection of some 40 broad-gauge diesel electronic locomotives, 75 metre-gauge luggage vans and 50 broad-gauge vans, 400 metre-gauge and 300 broad-gauge bogie covered wagons, and 180 metre-gauge and 120 broad-gauge open wagons, and providing training over maintaining luggage vans and service engineering.

Under the project that will be implemented by June 2021, the existing old and dilapidated rolling stocks (locomotives, carriages, wagons, or other vehicles used on a railway) will be replaced with the new ones.

The planning minister said Bangladesh Railway now has 180 metre-gauge locomotives and 94 broad-gauge locomotives. Of the broad -gauge ones, some 39 locomotives have economic life while the rest of the locomotives are 30-year-old ones.

According to the Planning Commission, Bangladesh Railway operates 88 different types of broad-gauge trains every day considering the technical aspects. There is now a demand for additional 25 per cent locomotives or 110 broad-gauge locomotives.

Besides, the Bangladesh Railway has some 53 meter-gauge luggage vans of which 48 luggage vans are 47-year old ones, though their economic life is 35 years.

The ECNEC cleared establishment of 560 Model Mosques and Islamic Cultural Centres at upazila and district levels (1st revised) at a cost of Tk 87.22 billion.

About the project, the planning minister said the Saudi government had earlier assured Bangladesh of providing fund for the project. "Since the fund has not so far been available from Saudi Arabia, the government has decided to implement the project with its own fund."

If the fund is available in the future, it would be used for another purpose, he added.

The ECNEC also cleared a project titled 'Power Supply through Establishing Solar Panels in Remote Areas of CHT (1st revised) with Tk 760.60 million to install some 10,000 solar panels as part of the government's pledge to bring cent per cent people under the electricity coverage.

During the discussion over the project, prime minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to take a project in future covering rest of households under the solar home power system in the CHT region, said Mustafa Kamal.

The 11 other projects approved in the meeting include construction of 684 flats for the Government Officials and Employees in Nine Multi-Storey Residential Buildings in place of 11 dilapidated buildings situated at CGS colony at Agrabad in Chattogram with a cost of Tk 4.83 billion, construction of 15-storey building at the existing location of Bangladesh Bar Council with Tk 1.18 billion, Development of Islamic University (3rd phase) with Tk 4.97 billion, Establishment of Computer and Language Training Labs at Educational Institutions across Country (3rd revised) with Tk 3.98 billion, Office Building Construction, Renovation of Infrastructures and Modernisation of Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) with Tk 1.95 billion, and Approach Road Widening and Development of other Necessary Infrastructures at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park (1st revised) with Tk 1.61 billion.

The rest projects are Establishment of Four Textile Institutes (3rd revised) with Tk 3.11 billion, Balancing, Modernisation, Rehabilitation and Expansion of 3 Mills under Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation (BJMC) with Tk 1.74 billion, Construction of Four-Lane Flyover on Dhaka-Sylhet Highway with Tk 3.53 billion, Upgrading District Highway and Width (Gopalganj Zone) with Tk 4.89 billion and Upgrading District Highway and Width (Mymensingh Zone) with Tk 5.68 billion.