DWASA water treatment plant project cost to go up by Tk 2,921cr

The Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority A has sought an extension of cost and time of the Water Treatment Plant Project after failing to make progress in the last five years while the Director General of Health Services has appealed once again for cost and time extension of Kushtia Medical College and Hospital project.

The water treatment plant project has been implemented since 2012.

Planning ministry of ficials said that the Dhaka WASA project was the third phase of the Saidabad Water Treatment Plant project. 

Cost of Saidabad Water Treatment Plant Project Phase-III is now likely to see a hike by Tk 2,921 crore as the implementation of the project could not be started due to the delay in ensuring loans from European lenders.

The deadline of the much talked about project is likely to be extended by four more years to June 2025, said the officials.

WASA took up the project in 2015 at Tk 4597.36 crore to lift 95 crore litres of water daily from the River Meghna at Haria point of Sonargaon in Narayanganj and treat those at Saidabad to ensure the supply of 45 crore litres of water.

The new project cost is likely to go up to Tk 7,518.02 crore while the deadline would be pushed back to June 2025.

Officials said that a French development agency AFD, European Investment Bank and Danish International Development Agency had committed to provide a loan of Tk 3,053.55 crore.

But at one stage they expressed unwillingness to provide the loan citing pollution of the Meghna water at the project site.

As the government assured the European lenders that it would take steps to check pollution, they again agreed to provide the loan, said officials.

Officials said Dhaka WASA had submitted a proposal to the Planning Commission recently seeking the first revision of the project.

They said Dhaka WASA’s proposal was expected to be reviewed by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in its meeting today.

Officials said that the DG Health took up the project of Kushtia Medical College and Hospital in 2012 at an estimated cost of Tk 275.43 crore.

The project was supposed to be completed in 2014.

But the DG Health had sought extension of the project deadline to 2015 and then to 2016 before it sought first revision in 2017.

Under the first revision, the project cost increased by more than two folds to Tk 611.86 crore and the deadline was pushed back to 2019.

The DG Health once again sought extension of time to 2020 to complete the project.

Now, it has again proposed a second revision for increasing the project cost by 71 crore to 682.46 crore and the deadline by 2023.

Planning ministry officials said that the same proposal by DG Health in January of the current year was rejected by the ECNEC.

It was reported that massive irregularities and corruption slowed the implementation rate of the project which was below 50 per cent in the past nine years.   

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/150958/dwasa-water-treatment-plant-project-cost-to-go-up-by-tk-2921cr