Bangladesh and China struck a deal in Beijing Tuesday to build the country’s maiden river tunnel down the Karnaphuli in Chittagong at a cost US $705 million. The Bridges Division under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges entered into the agreement with a state-owned Chinese firm at ceremony attended by ministers and other high-ups concerned of the two countries, according to a message received in Dhaka. Khandaker Anwarul Islam, the Bridges Division secretary, and Liu Qitao, Chairman of China Communications Construction Company Ltd (CCCC), inked the deal around 1:30 pm Bangladesh time. RTB Minister Obaidul Quader witnessed the ceremony along with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Chuantan. Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Dr Dipu Moni and Bangladesh Ambassador to China M Fazlul Karim, Director-General of Foreign Ministry Ruhul Amin Siddique and Chief Engineer of Bangladesh Bridges Authority Kabir Ahmed were also present. The signing shaped the country’s maiden 3.4-kilometre tunnel across Karnaphuli River after a lot of improvisations that led to cost-overrun by around $60 million. The deal was delayed over the issue of interest rate of the Exim Bank of China and evaluation of the CCCC proposal for a lack of expertise. After the signing, Md Abu Naser, senior information officer of the ministry, said as announced before, the project work is set to start in December. But, he added, before that a loan agreement will be signed. “Economic Relations Division will sign the loan agreement with the Chinese government within two months,” he told the FE over phone. The ministry official, however, expressed his ignorance about the interest rate on the loan but said they were still trying to keep it below 2.0 per cent. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Obaidul Quader said Karnaphuli tunnel is the dream project of the people of Chittagong, and after its implementation, economic scenario of the country, including Chittagong, will drastically change. Lauding the Chinese role in Bangladesh’s development, the minister said apart from the cultural and religious relationships, China is an active contributor for both technology transfer and financial assistance in achieving development targets of Bangladesh for becoming a middle- income country by 2021. “China has a great role in every sphere of our development activities in areas like infrastructure, especially roads and bridges, power plants, satellite launch, agriculture, defence etc.,” he told the function. Joint-venture Chinese and Hong Kong consulting firms CCCC and ARUP, after the feasibility study, proposed the tunnel in 2013 with a total length of over 6.0 kilometres, including two approach roads feasible at the estuary of the Karnaphuli, to ensure connectivity of Chittagong city with the proposed deep-sea port and Cox’s Bazar tourist town. The length of the tunnel was estimated 3.4 kms with 740 metres of approach road on the western side and 4.9 kms at the east end. China’s CCCC also showed interest in constructing the tunnel under G2G arrangement. The dual two-lane tunnel is planned through the river with Navy College on one side and the Korean Export Processing Zone (KEPZ) and Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (KAFCO) two kilometres downstream of the river.
