Tuhin Shubhra Adhikary

A long-awaited railway project for setting up a direct rail line between Bogura and Sirajganj, ultimately shortening Dhaka-Bogura travel distance by 112 kilometres and time by three hours, has finally seen some progress.

The Chinese contractor that has been building the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel under the Karnaphuli river in Chattogram is also set to be responsible for its maintenance and toll collection.

The country witnessed a sharp rise in road accidents and deaths this year due to a huge numbers of small vehicles plying the highways and a lack of monitoring by the authorities concerned.

The physical work of another elevated expressway, which will facilitate vehicles’ quick entry and exit to and from the capital, is likely to start next month as the uncertainty over Chinese funding is now over.

The Railways Ministry has sent back four development project proposals (DPP) prepared without any feasibility study.

The Planning Commission has raised question about a Roads and Highways Department (RHD) project requesting more money when the project deadline had already been extended trice and its cost increased. 

Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan has directed the authorities concerned to investigate several recent railway accidents in which trucks hit trains at level crossings, most of which are unauthorised.

A government initiative to amend the Road Transport Act-2018 has picked up pace after a brief hiatus, even before the authorities started fully implementing the law.

The authorities are all set to conduct a test run of a metro train on the main tracks on Sunday, touching a new milestone in the country’s first ever metro rail project.

Bangladesh’s civil bureaucracy is growing fatter and fatter at the top as its lower tiers remain remarkably slim, creating an imbalance, affecting performance and fomenting frustration among non-admin cadre officials.

Bangladesh Railway (BR) is trudging along because of its excessive reliance on outdated locomotives caused by the failure to add new engines to its fleet in time.

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is finally getting an upgraded research and training facility, much-needed given the volume of projects the government agency implements and the upkeep needed of the existing sprawling network.

Bangladesh Railway (BR) is planning to form a separate body for carrying out feasibility studies and getting consultancy services for its potential and ongoing projects.

The railways ministry recently requested the Economic Relations Division to urge the Chinese government to re-evaluate its decision to not finance the Joydebpur-Ishwardi double-line project.

A technical committee has recommended taking delivery of the 10 locomotives that South Korean Hyundai Rotem Company supplied to Bangladesh Railway without meeting some of the specifications agreed in the contract, said BR officials.

The government has decided to lift most of the restrictions on people’s movement and public transport from Wednesday even as Covid-19 continues to exact a heavy toll on people’s lives with high death and infection rates.

The government has made a complete mess of the reopening of export-oriented factories amid “strict lockdown” enforced to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A probe committee of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) has recommended shifting the current locations of the ferry terminals on the Shimulia-Banglabazar route to avoid further collision between the vessels and the Padma bridge.

The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) is annoyed with a good few project authorities for breaking protocol for applying for extensions -- a practice that is hamstringing the appraisal process.

A probe committee formed after a ferry on Friday rammed a pillar of the under-construction Padma Bridge found that the master and quartermaster of the vessel were responsible for the mishap that left 20 people injured.