Railways way off track

Being one of the top recipients of the government's development expenditures, railways ministry is lagging behind the average implementation rate of the annual development programme (ADP).

When the average ADP implementation rate was 57.37 percent during July to May of the just-concluded fiscal year, the progress of railway ministry was only 24.55 percent.

The government in 2014 approved the project to construct a dual-gauge double rail line and convert all existing rail lines into double line between Akhaura and Laksham, and it was supposed to be completed by June this year.

But, the Tk 6,504-crore project witnessed a 66 percent implementation until April this year. The project authorities targeted to complete 20 percent work during the last fiscal year but managed to achieve only 5 percent progress in the first 10 months.

The authorities are now seeking to extend the deadline.

Similarly, almost all of the 37 investment projects under the ministry are behind the fiscal year's target. The poor performance of the ministry was reflected in the report of the ADP.

The railways ministry was the fifth highest ADP recipient among all ministries and divisions in the last fiscal year, but it was at the bottom in terms of attaining the ADP target.

Only five divisions and agencies, whose allocation were far lower than that of the railways, performed worse than the railways ministry.

This is nothing new.

The railways ministry was also among the low performers in terms of ADP implementation in the last fiscal year.

ADP implementation average was 94.66 percent in 2018-19 fiscal year, but the railways ministry could implement only 86.36 percent of their annual target.

As a result, a huge amount of money was returned to the government exchequer.

However, in the 2017-18 fiscal year, railways ministry's ADP implementation rate was 98.77 percent which was 4.75 percent higher than the average.

But the rate was only 30.81 percent till May 2018, meaning the ministry achieved 67.96 percent progress within just one month, show the documents of Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED).

In the 2016-17 fiscal year, railways ministry's ADP implementation rate was 65.53 percent, when the average rate was 89.89 percent, show IMED documents.

ONE PROJECT DRAGGING RAIL BACK

A railway official, who has a proper understanding of railways ministry's allocation and expenditure, said, "There are two reasons behind the poor performance of railways ministry in ADP implementation this year."

The reasons are Covid-19 situation that halted project works for around three months and Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, he said.

"ADP implementation by railways ministry rose to 57.39 till June. It could be around 90 percent had the problem related to Padma Bridge Rail Link Project been solved," he told The Daily Star wishing not to be named.

Total allocation for railways ministry was Tk 10,249 crore in the last fiscal year but it could spend Tk 5882.16 crore, meaning Tk 4366.84 crore was sent back to the national exchequer.

On the other hand, Tk 3,297.40 crore was allocated for Padma Rail Link project but it could use only Tk 751.8 crores, meaning the project authority sent back Tk 2545.6 crore, which is 58.30 percent of total money returned by the ministry.

The Ecnec in May 2016 approved the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project (PBRLP) to connect the capital with Jashore with a 169km rail line over the under-construction Padma Bridge.

The deadline of the Tk 39,246-crore project is June 2024 and it witnessed only 25 percent progress till June this year.

The project recently came to discussion after the roads and highway department (RHD) alleged that the contractor and sub-contractors of the project are damaging the newly-built Dhaka-Mawa expressway and service roads by operating heavy-loaded trucks to transport materials for the project.

The RHD has already sought Tk 50 crore to the project authority as compensation for the damage.

Contacted, Project Director of PBRLP Golam Fakhruddin Ahmed Chowdhury said they have to return the money as they could not give bills to the contractors due some complications over the contract.

He said they had to sign a supplementary contract with the Chinese Exim Bank, the donor agency, as the main contract had some "mistakes".