Cabinet clears Payra port terminal, abandons Dhaka-Ctg expressway

The cabinet committee on public purchase on Sunday approved the construction of first terminal belonging to Payra Seaport as well as overall facilities out there.

The project work is estimated at Tk 776 crore to be carried out by the two winning bidders – Venture of Max and Ranken.

In addition, the responsibility to procure two bollard pool tugboats and necessary equipment and services has been given to Khulna Shipyard Ltd.

The approval came from the 35th meeting of the committee held virtually with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair. After the meeting, the Cabinet Division’s additional Secretary Md Shamsul Arefin confirmed the matter.

At the meeting four proposals were raised for the approval of Economic Affairs Committee and 10 for the Purchase Committee.

A set of nine proposals worth a total of over Tk 74,185 crore had been approved by the Purchase Committee.

Of the financing, over Tk 73,715 crore will come from the government and Tk 469 crore more from domestic bank loan.

The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) will implement the Pyra seaport project under the Road Transport and Highways Division.

Twelve tenders were submitted for the purpose, of which 10 were technically responsive. At the end of the bidding process, the project work has been awarded to Max and Ranken.

Dhaka-Chattogram Expressway Project canceled

The Dhaka-Chattogram Expressway Project is not being implemented through Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The project was undertaken almost a decade ago.

About the cancellation issue Samsul Arefin said the proposal to void the Dhaka-Chattogram Expressway construction project has been approved in principle.

“The project based on PPP is not going to be implemented. Instead of that the existing four-lane highway will be expanded and it will be constructed by the government itself,” he added.

The highways across the country will be upgraded to four lanes while service lanes will also be constructed.

Asked why the government turned down the project after a large expenditure, the secretary said it was just a feasibility study, and so money had not been wasted.