Why are railway projects so poorly executed?

We are quite disappointed by the poor implementation of projects undertaken by Bangladesh Railway to improve its overall service. According to a report by this daily, five such important projects, undertaken years ago, are facing uncertainty as the authorities could not do anything on time—the bidding process, feasibility studies, appointment of consultants, procuring funds, etc. Reportedly, out of the 37 ongoing railway projects—either government-funded or foreign-funded—the deadlines for 26 have been extended at least once.

Of the aforesaid five projects, one was the procurement of 70 Metre Gauge (MG) locomotives, the fate of which is now unclear due to multiple complications. The Tk 1,946 crore project was taken up in 2011 to mitigate the growing crisis of rail engines and expanding the services of Bangladesh Railway. Although it was supposed to be completed by 2017, those in charge could not even complete the bidding process by that time. The project deadline was extended twice before it went through a major revision in 2018, after which the deadline was extended again, resulting in further cost overruns. The four other projects—renovation of 21 MG locomotives, providing technical assistance for developing rolling stock operations, expanding the Joypurhat-Ishwardi and Akhaura-Sylhet rail lines—are also facing similar problems.

During the past few years, The Daily Star published detailed reports on many BR projects marred by this problematic cycle. Many of the foreign-funded projects, like the one for procurement of 70 MG locomotives, are facing uncertainty as the companies supposed to arrange funds for the projects do not want to fund them anymore. According to transport experts, poor planning, weak feasibility study, lack of skilled manpower as well as a serious lack of accountability of the implementing authorities are the main reasons for railway projects meeting such stagnation. In the case of the Joydebpur-Ishwardi double-line project, the Chinese government clearly mentioned last year that they did not want to fund it because there was a "lack of in-depth preliminary work and insufficient feasibility study".

Apparently, the feasibility studies of these projects were never carried out properly. Many important aspects remained ignored and unresolved, and the project authorities had to change many things at the implementation stage, resulting in frequent time and cost overruns. We think the culture of botching up feasibility studies must be stopped if the projects are to be completed on time. The railway authorities, the implementing agencies and consultants all should be held accountable for any slow progress of work. The government must take this issue seriously and actively address concerns surrounding inefficiency, corruption and lack of accountability in the railway projects.