The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has sought a fund almost double its originally estimated cost for building a small bridge in Barishal region, officials said on Wednesday.
The road developer has also sought revision of the project titled "Construction of a PC-girder bridge on the Pona River at 46th km on Barisal-Jhalkathi-Rajapur-Bhandaria-Pirojpur", demanding one more year to build the 200-metre bridge, they added.
According to the revised project proposal, RHD will spend some 39 per cent of the total Tk 485.53 million cost for constructing the bridge. The remaining 61 per cent will be spent for its relevant works, like - land acquisition and approach road construction etc.
"We have changed design of the bridge, which has prompted us to revise the project with upward cost adjustment," said a senior RHD official.
In the new proposal, RHD has sought Tk 485.53 million fund, which is 95.05 per cent higher than the original cost of Tk 248.93 million for the project.
The agency has also sought one more year up to December 2019 to complete it from the current scheduled date. RHD took up the project in 2016, which was scheduled to be finished in December 2018.
Officials said RHD has included land acquisition, construction of tow-wall, footpath and drains afresh in the revised project proposal.
According to it, the road developer wants to acquire 1.94 hectares of land at Tk 142.74 million cost.
Besides, RHD has also included construction of 1,200 metres tow-wall at Tk 29.47 million cost, 2,170 metres footpath at Tk 21 million, 1,200 metres drain at Tk 7.04 million in the new proposal.
RHD has also revised the cost for constructing flexible pavement of the bridge to Tk 46.57 million from its original estimation of Tk 14.18 million.
A senior official said it is unfortunate that the government's project implementing agencies frequently revise designs and proposals of different projects, resulting in higher cost for their completion.
"Since many projects are taken without proper feasibility study, their cost and time get overrun. The executing agencies should conduct proper feasibility study before taking any project," he told the FE.
