Khulna-Mongla rail link likely to open in December

The construction work of the Khulna-Mongla Port Railway Project has picked up pace recently after a temporary slowdown induced by the pandemic.

The overall progress of the project now stands at 90 percent, which includes the tracks, telecommunications, signalling and construction of bridges over the Rupsha River.

The rest of the work will be completed by December 31 this year and be ready to traffic, Bangladesh Railway (BR) Director General (DG) Dhirendra Nath Majumder said.

“After that, the railway line will be launched any day after receiving a nod from the prime minister,” he added.

Once operational, the rail link will help businesses expand manifold, according to project sources.

They said the project will develop the country’s communication system and increase import-export through Mongla Port.

The project was approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on December 21, 2010.

The cost of the entire project including land acquisition, construction of railway lines and railway bridges was estimated at Tk 3,801 crore.

However, since the project started, the date of completion was extended five times and finally was fixed for December 31, 2022.

The expenditure for the project also was hiked to Tk 4,260 crore during this time.

Balram Dey, project manager of Ircon International Ltd, an Indian state-owned construction company working on the project, said that a total of 31 bridges and 108 culverts have been built for the train link.

“Work on the railway bridge over the Rupsha River is 95 percent complete. The piling work is almost done. Only two spans are now left to be installed,” Dey said.

In addition, there are still nine vehicular underpasses left to work on, he said, adding that this work will be completed quickly if the drawings are in hand.

Project Director (PD) Arifuzzaman said that works for parts of the railway and railway bridge are almost complete.

However, some new works have been added, including the construction of nine newly-designed underpasses, earthworks, and an increase in the number of pile lanes, Arifuzzaman said. “As a result, the work has increased by 12 percent.”

He said that the construction work was delayed from the beginning due to the disruption of the arrival of goods from India during the pandemic, and other crises.

Mongla Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Musa said the completion of the project would further boost the speed of the Mongla port.

Through the rail link, the Mongla port will be connected by rail to Siliguri in India via Panchagarh and Banglabandha in the north. “This will make it easier to transport goods from India, Nepal and Bhutan at low cost.”

The link will also increase the container service with the increase in import-export, he said.