DHAKA : The government has granted a one-year extension for the Kalurghat Bridge to Chaktai Canal Road project, now due in June 2026, as bureaucratic snarls in land acquisition stall critical work despite 82% completion and over Tk 2,200 crore already spent, reports UNB.

The Tk 2,779.39 crore project, being implemented by the Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) under the Ministry of Housing and Public Works, was originally set from July 2017 to June 2020, then extended multiple times, officials said.

It was first extended to June 2021, then to June 2022, with the second revision approving an extension to June 2024, followed by another extension to June 2025, and most recently to June 2026, all without any additional cost increase.

Initially approved in July 2017 with a deadline of June 2020, the project has undergone several deadline extensions to overcome land acquisition delays and technical hurdles, according to an official document obtained by UNB.

The project, fully funded by the government, was initially approved at Tk 2,275.52 crore, later revised to Tk 2,310.24 crore in the first revision, and further increased to Tk 2,779.39 crore in the second revision.

According to the ministry, the project is crucial for protecting key industrial and commercial areas, including Chaktai, Khatunganj, Bokshirhat, Bakalia, Chandgaon and Kalurghat industrial zones, from flooding and tidal surges.

The project aims to ease traffic congestion by linking the Dhaka-Chattogram and Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highways, while also improving Chattogram’s communication system and protecting the city from tidal flooding as part of the proposed outer ring road.

Despite significant progress - with 82% of physical work completed and Tk 2,203.59 crore (79.28%) spent up to March 2025 - delays in land acquisition, due to complexities in the economic code for land purchase, stalled work on 2 km of the road and two regulators.

The ministry has justified the extension of the project period without any cost increase, stating that the ‘Construction of Road along the Bank of the Karnaphuli River from Kalurghat Bridge to Chaktai Canal’ project is a publicly significant initiative.

Under the project, a 1.50-kilometre embankment-cum-road, 12 regulators at the mouths of 12 canals falling into the Karnaphuli River, slope protection work, retaining walls and waterways will be constructed.

The second revised DPP was approved by ECNEC on August 16, 2022, and tenders for the remaining works were invited in line with the approved DPP.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase approved the tenders on July 13, 2023, and the contractor signed the contract on July 30, 2023. But the Ministry of Finance withheld land acquisition funds in 2022-23 and 2023-24, leaving a 2-km stretch uncompensated and halting work on two regulators and the embankment-cum-road.

“Currently, the DPP is being amended to facilitate the release of funds for the remaining land acquisition activities,” said an official wishing anonymity.

As the current project deadline is June 2025, he said, an additional one-year extension until June 2026, without any increase in cost.

The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) also approved the extension with strict conditions, including completion of all remaining work within the new deadline under a specific action plan and submission of the Project Completion Report within three months of finishing. It also instructed faster land acquisition for the remaining 2 km after fixing the relevant issues.