PM seeks detailed do the job plan as Payra slot project goes slow
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday directed Payra Slot Authority (PPA) to get ready a detailed work plan amidst price spirals and delays found in project implementation relating to the government's highly-ambitious production agenda.
"The primary minister instructed the slot authority to place the full total work plan within the next meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec)," Setting up Minister MA Mannan told journalists after an Ecnec assembly.
Ministry sources said instructions are also given to give a picture of the port's existing situation, total progress up to now and set of major problems facing authorities implementing tasks involving the port.
The Ecnec also approved a revised proposal for a project that sought additional time and to improve the cost for building the port's first terminal and related infrastructure.
The project was undertaken initially of January 2019 and because of be completed by December 2021 at a price of Tk 3,982.10.
Now, the revised cost is Tk 4,516.75 crore and completion deadline June 2023.
Only 7 % of the project has been completed so far in the past 2 yrs.
A portion of the price increase for the port's primary terminal and related infrastructure is for adjusting the height of the jetty.
Asked if any feasibility review was conducted for the project, Mamun-Al-Rashid, an associate of the look commission, affirmed one getting done in the beginning.
"However, our own capability to conduct a good feasibility analysis for such a sizable scale project has not been developed but," he said.
"However, whenever a feasibility analysis was later carried out by two companies from Belgium and Denmark, they explained the jetty wouldn't normally have the ability to withstand the waves that form if a good 40,000 tonne-potential ship involves the slot," he added.
"That is why it's been asked to use steel piles rather than RCC piles," said Rashid.
After conducting a hydrological study on a river and surrounding area inside port, where one Andharmanik bridge will be constructed, the bridge's duration was increased from 1.05 kilometres to at least one 1.17 kilometres by the consultant.
For that, the job seeks another Tk 411 crore from the government.
"In the event that you ask me how the project would be completed by 2 yrs as only 7 per cent of it has so far progressed, I'd say that today the total design and feasibility analysis have already been finalized," he said.
"And that's why it will be possible to do it within the deadline," Rashid added.
The parliament passed the Payra seaport authority act on November 3, 2013, and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the port's construction work on November 1 that year.
Although she inaugurated limited-scale procedures of the country's third seaport in 2016, the full-fledged activities were aimed to be go by 2023.
Mother vessels even now cannot dock in the port because engineering of important infrastructure is yet to get complete.
The multifarious task relating to the much-hyped port in Patuakhali has been facing delays despite being truly a fast-track project of the federal government.
The lack of an effective feasibility study, inappropriate cost estimations and reluctance of project officials mainly led to the delayed infrastructure development and rising construction costs, according to ministry officials.
The same was mentioned in a written report on the project by the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).
The cost was increased by 23 % from the last estimate of Tk 3,350 crore to meet up additional expenses on terrain acquisition, among others, as the Ecnec approved a third revised proposal in November last year.
The project, which is being implemented by an agency beneath the shipping ministry, was undertaken in 2015 at an estimated cost of Tk 1,128 crore. The expenditure went up to Tk 3,350 crore in the first revision.
However, around 80 % of the project offers been accomplished as of now.
A good government effort to get ready the get better at plan and design for a Payra deep-sea port by engaging the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and a consultant of the Netherlands is not finalised.
As of this moment, only 50 % of the master method has been completed.
Some other projects of the port, such construction of a multipurpose terminal, a coal terminal and city in the port area and attracting tourists by enhancing the Kuakata coastal region, have not progressed very much.
