Ircon International Ltd, an Indian state-owned construction company, is likely to install the signalling system on the Khulna-Mongla Port rail line as the lowest bidder.
Ircon International Ltd has emerged as the lowest bidder for the project tender floated by the Ministry of Railways, Bangladesh, reports the equitybulls.com.
The corporation will construct a non-interlocked colour light signalling system including the telecommunication system with optical fibre for nine stations under the Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line project.
Setting up the signalling system will be completed over a period of six months. The project involves around Tk28 crore.
Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line Project Director Md Arifuzzaman, however, said they just received the proposals from the bidders, but the lowest bidder has not been determined yet.
“The tender submission deadline has just ended, but the process of bidder selection has not finished yet,” he said.
The financial and technical evaluation of the tender has also not been completed yet, he said.
The Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line project was taken in December 2010 with a decade-long time period. The 64.75 km long broad-gauge rail line was supposed to be completed by June 2021.
But due to the slow pace of work, the project has been going on for more than a decade. It got an extension for one year and a half years and now the project is supposed to be completed by December 2022.
Along with the time extension, the revised project cost has also increased from the initial estimation of Tk3,801 crore to Tk4,261 crore.
A large portion of the financing for the project is coming from the Indian line of credit (LoC). Due to revising the project cost, the LoC assistance has increased from Tk2,371 crore to Tk2,946 crore.
The Bangladesh Railway officials said delays in the approval process and negligence on the part of Indian contractors have delayed the project implementation.
Source : TBS News
