No roads for deep-sea port, power plant

• Matarbari Coal Power Plant yet to have road connectivity
• Extensions push five-year plan to nine-year plan
• Road construction costs have tripled
• Maheshkhali deep seaport also without roads
• Only 1.16% road construction progress since March 2020 approval
• Port, plant of no use without roads

The coal power plant in Matarbari and the deep seaport in Maheshkhali are nearing completion, but the roads around it still go nowhere.

Seven years into the construction of the link road to the 1,200 megawatt Matarbari coal power plant, the Department of Road Transport and Highways (RHD) has now sought an extension till 2024.

The 44-kilometre road was expected to facilitate construction work of the plant, located in the remote island of Matarbari in Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar, by establishing a ground connection.

If the road could be made by the target of June 2020, after construction began in July 2015, then workers and engineers of the power plant would be able to travel easily and the needed equipment could also be sent by road.

Abul Kalam Azad, director of the Matarbari Power Station, said currently the only reliable means of transportation for the workers and engineers of the power project was the waterway.

When the RHD first failed to meet the target, the period was extended in one phase. Now the RHD is asking for another extension to the Planning Commission, pushing back the project completion date by four more years.

The Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited, the implementing agency, wants to complete unit testing by 2024, while the construction of the plant is set to be completed in 2026, with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Planning Commission has already taken a positive decision in this regard by convening a meeting of the Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) in this regard.

Pending the approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), the five-year project will be completed in nine years.

This situation, however, is not new. A similar problem prevails regarding the connecting roads of almost every project undertaken by the government for the mega plan around Maheshkhali and Matarbari.

About half of the money for the Tk17,777crore Matarbari deep sea port project will be spent on road construction.

Although the port is planned to be operational by 2025, the progress in road construction has been only 1.16%.

The construction of a new road from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar or widening of existing road for the use of the port has not even started yet.

Experts have said that the lack of roads has hampered the progress of the big projects.

BUET Professor of Civil Engineering and transportation specialist Shamsul Hoque said it would be very difficult to implement the big projects without establishing connections. Without it, even if the work of the project is completed, the desired benefits will not be obtained from it.

He said that once the deep seaport is opened, a huge number of ships will crowd at Matarbari as an alternative to Chattogram port.

If there is no road from the port to the land, this port will be of no use.

He said the pressure on the road from Cox's Bazar to Chattogram will increase several times as soon as the port is opened.

Transport experts and businessmen have also said that a deep-sea port without connecting roads would not be of any use to them.

Why the delay?

The cost of the project for construction, renovation and rehabilitation of the 43.66km road to Matarbari Power Station was estimated at Tk602cr.

After the first extension, this was revised to Tk660cr. With another extension, the costs are now expected to reach Tk1,027cr, almost double the initial estimate.

So far, overall work has progressed less than 72%. According to the revised proposal, the road work will have to be done on 27.26km of roads.

Despite the reduction in the scope of work, the additional cost will be Tk 425cr, which is 71% more than the original allocation.

According to the original project proposal, a 540-metre bridge was planned over the Kohelia River, but the revised proposal increased it to 895 metres. Due to this extra Tk40cr extra will have to be spent. Apart from that, the cost will increase by Tk32cr. A new 40-metre RCC girder bridge will be added to the project.

Costs, in some instances, have also tripled.

In the main project, the construction cost of the 10.31km road was estimated at Tk96cr. In the revised proposal, while the length has been reduced to 7.35km, the allocation has been fixed at Tk201cr.

Although the degree of road construction has decreased by 2.96km, the cost has increased by Tk104.54cr.

The Planning Commission has asked why the cost per km of roads has almost tripled from Tk9.31cr to Tk27.28cr.

When contacted, Project Director Md Fazle Rabbe told The Business Standard that although the project was delayed from July 2015, the Government Order was issued in January the next year following the ECNEC approval.

Apart from this, a proposal was made to acquire land under the 1982 law. But in 2016, as a new law was made, a new proposal had to be made. As a result, it took two-and-a-half years to acquire the land.

He further said that road construction in remote areas was very difficult, while lack of proper planning and coordination also hampered the work progress.

He said that although there was a plan to build a five-metre high bridge over the Kohelia River, the BIWTA later fixed its height to 12.2 metres.

As a result, the cost of building the bridge increased.

A deep seaport without a road

Of the total Tk17,777cr, the RHD received an allocation of Tk8,821cr for the Matarbari Deep Sea Port Development Project.

Of this, Tk2,892 crore was to be spent on the construction of a 21km road and Tk 2,146 crore on bridge construction.

Work for the road section, approved in March 2020, has not even begun yet. The financial progress of the project stands at only 1.16%.

No work on Chattogram-Cox's Bazar road development work

Although a loan agreement was signed with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in August last year to upgrade the one-lane road from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar to four lanes, the RHD has not yet been able to sign the project memorandum. It has also failed to complete the Development Project Proposal (DPP).

Shyamal Kumar Bhattacharya, additional chief engineer, RHD, said the DPP will be finalised this year and a consultant will be appointed.

The consultant will prepare all the documents, after which it may take up to 2023 to start the construction work by evaluating and selecting the contractor.

If the work starts in 2024, construction will be completed before 2026.

The bureaucratic complexities mean the JICA-promised Tk146.8cr is currently stuck in red tape.

The Matarbari deep seaport, the country's first, was slated to be opened in 2025, with a capacity to handle 4,000 cargo vessels per day. But now this seems far from possible.

With regard to the project approval, the RHD has pointed the finger at plans to build separate expressways in Cox's Bazar and Chattogram on the basis of private-private partnership (PPP).

Against this backdrop, four bypasses and one overpass will be made on the Ctg-Cox's Bazar Highway, but that won't be done before 2025.

It is learned that the Japanese company 'Nippon Koei' has already completed the survey of the bypass-overpass.

It is feared that the year 2026 may go by without all the work, including the detailed design and tender preparation, being completed.

Another separate survey is being conducted on the construction of the four-lane roads with separate service lanes on this basis.

BUET has already submitted the draft of the survey conducted by the government to the PPP office.

Abul Bashar, director general of the PPP office, said BUET's survey report had been sent to the RHD.

He said Japan's Marubeni Corporation was interested in implementing the project. The project will be formulated after reviewing the initial feasibility study.

He also said it would take 24 to 30 months to complete the work after signing the agreement with the investment firm.

Contacted by The Business Standard, AK Mohammad Fazlul Karim, coordinator and additional chief engineer of the PPP cell of RHD, said that he had received the survey report from BUET. After a detailed review, a decision will be taken.

Mohammad Hatem, executive president of BKMEA, said that since there was no deep seaport in the country, exported goods had to be sent from Chattogram port in feeder vessels. From there they are taken to the mother vessel, which results in wasting more time and increasing transportation expenses.

He said the problem will end with the opening of a deep seaport. However, he feared that traders will be deprived of this opportunity if the width of the road is not increased.