BUS Rapid Transit Line 3 Project, taken up about 12 years ago to connect Gazipur to the Dhaka airport with a dedicated bus service on a 20.5-kilometre corridor, has become an example of irregularities and mismanagement of development projects. The project, once completed, is meant to carry close to half a million people every day. The estimated travel time was about 50 minutes to cross 25 stations. It is to offer e-ticketing, automatic ticket counters and intelligent transport system for passengers. Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Co Ltd is implementing the project along with the Roads and Highways Department, the Bridges Authority and the Local Government Engineering Department. The Road Transport Corporation was supposed to run the buses on the corridor. About 96 per cent of the project work has so far been completed, as the Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company managing director said. Most of the infrastructural work has been completed. The main corridor, flyovers along the corridor and connecting roads have already been open to the public. But the project which began in December 2012 and was meant to be completed by December 2016 has already missed five deadlines. The project cost has been increased two times.
The deadline was first extended until December 2018, then until June 2020, until June 2022, until December 2022 and, finally, until December 2024. The project cost, which was Tk 20 billion when it was meant for a 2016 completion, has by now increased to Tk 42.68 billion. What is bad about the project is that it stands a worrying chance of another deadline extension and a fresh increase in cost as the road transport and bridges ministry has begun work with Bus Rapid Transit Co Ltd to send a proposal to the Planning Commission seeking a fresh extension to the deadline until December 2026. The Bus Rapid Transit Co managing director says that work on the deadline extension has already begun and cost could increase because of office rent, salary of the officials, transport cost and an increase in material cost. The failure to complete the project on time, causing time overruns, would naturally entail cost overruns. But nothing could be more disparaging than the project completion failure if the authorities, the Planning Commission for that matter, readily agree the time and cost overruns without first finding out the people or quarters that are responsible for such a failure and holding them to account.
The authorities should look into the failures, collective or individual, of Bus Rapid Transit Line 3 Project which has run to irregularities and mismanagement soon after the construction began. The failure has not only added to the project duration and cost but also held back intended benefits and caused severe congestion on the section of the road. An accident in August 2022 left five people dead. The authorities must not agree the extension without looking into the failure and holding people responsible to account.