Assessing the Role of International Entities in Mega Infrastructure Projects
Added on 2019-12-03
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Construction Project Analysis(Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge Project)1
Jamuna is the third largest rivers in Bangladesh which runs through north to the south incentral Bangladesh. However, the river divides country into two halves: east and west. Further,the capital Dhaka and major port city of Chittagong assist in creating opportunities economicgrowth and focusing on minimizing the level of poverty. According to Ahmad, Azhar andAhmed (2003), until the project of Jamuna Multi Purpose Bridge Project (JMPB) initiated therewere more than 60% of all the cross river traffic between the east and the west. Along with this,constantly changing environment has created more issues and obstacles for the mobility of goodsand services from the various divisions of the country. In addition to this, one way trip took morethan two hours to get over and the loading lorry carrying commodities have to wait for average36 hours before boarding (Ahmad, Azhar and Ahmed 2003). However, in order to overcome all these issues, construction of JMPB took place in 1994and finished in June 1998. Jamuna Multi Purpose Bridge is now the world's 11th largest bridge.The main purpose behind building the bridge was to provide first road and rail link between theunderdeveloped Northwest region of Bangladesh. The total cost of project was around US$960million and was co-financed by ADB $200 million, Overseas Economic Fund of Japan $200million, World Bank 200 million and GOB providing the rest amount. The major costing of thisJMPB project of 87% went to river training and physical construction, whereas remaining 13%was utilised in roads and other technical assistance.The main purpose of the project was to connect the eastern and western halves ofBangladesh which were separated by the Jamuna river. According to the study made by Huq(2002) states that, this was the major reason due to which economic growth by facilitating thetransport of passengers and freight were adversely affected. Furthermore, by the build of bridgetransmission of electricity, natural gas and telecommunication across the Jamuna river in moreeffective and efficient manner (Huq, 2002). JMPB project was given the major priority by thegovernment of Bangladesh. At the initial stage the project scope consists of various elements which were evaluated inthe study of Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge Project are as follows: (1) the construction of multi-purpose bridge (four lanes, around 4.8 Km), (2) construction of approach roads (16km fromeastern side and 14 km from western side), (3) implementation of river control work and (4)management consulting services covering supervision of and progress management for the civil2
engineering. Further, in the same study researcher evaluated that, the project schedule wasdelayed by seven months and it is because of the reason that there was delayed in the process ofselecting the contractor. This leads to construction work for bridge started in October 1994 ratherthan April 1994. at the time of completion of the project it was identified that the implementationschedule spanned 44 months as compared to the 43 months estimated at the inception. At thebeginning of the project, it was identified that almost 3000 hectors of land was required fromsuch a country where land is scarce. This decision almost affected 100000 people and this wasthe reason due to which comprehensive social and environmental studies were carried out tomitigate its adverse environmental and social impacts. The implementation arrangements was followed by the construction company which wasimagined as the time appraisal. For this process. JMBA was designated as the executive agencyheaded by the secretary of the government. Further, the team of senior professionals whofeatured the experience of construction supervision and project management was hired. Throughthe help of professionals and assistance team JMBA established a monitoring system which wasfinally accepted by the ADB (Asian Development Bank). Further, through the case study ofJamuna Multi-purpose Bridge Project, (2001) researcher evaluated that, a committee wasestablished with representatives from ADB, OECF and World Bank, which held the meetingsregularly throughout the implementation of the project (Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge Project,2001). Similar to this, Asian Development Bank, (2000) case study defines that World bank wasassigned the role of appointing the senior engineer who can supervise the project on the dailybasis and only on the major issues or concerns ADB was consulted. Therefore, these are some ofthe approaches and tactics used by the committee to manage and organise the entire project ofJamuna Multi-purpose Bridge project form inception to completion.In the case study of Bayes (2007) made on JMPB, it has been clearly identified that,finding a cost effective way to quiet the disruptive and unpredictable river and the funds requiredto build the entire project was a redoubtable task, that world's best international engineering saidthat could never be achieved (Bayes, 2007). In this context Huq (2002) defines that, the projectproved a monumental challenge that nearly took 30 years to get over. Further, author states that itwas one of the biggest project in terms of capital investment for the Government of Bangladesh.However, the total cost of project was around $950 million which was raised through various3
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