The government has once again increased the implementation cost of the city’s Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover project by Tk 271 crore, raising the overall project cost to Tk 1489.90 crore.

The Cabinet Purchase Committee in a meeting on Wednesday approved a proposal placed by the Local Government Division in this regard.

As per the decision of the committee, the construction of two segments of the Moghbazar-Mouchak flyover will need additional cost. Of them, the Banglamotor-Mouchak segment will require additional Tk 155.41 crore while that from Satrasta to Holy Family Hospital via FDC crossing Tk 115.56 crore.  

The Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has been implementing the project. In January last, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved the revision of the Moghbazar-Mouchak Flyover Project with an extension of 18 months and increased cost of Tk 446.20 crore, raising the overall project cost to Tk 1218.90 crore.

The project work, which was scheduled to be completed within December 2015, started in 2013 instead of the original schedule of 2011.

Following a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office, the length of the flyover was extended by another 450 metres from the FDC entrance to Sonargaon Hotel at Karwan Bazar. After the increase, the total length of the flyover has gone up from 8.25km to 8.7km.

The meeting held with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair also gave approval to 11 other proposals, including cost revision of five projects.

It approved a proposal to procure 30,000 tonnes of bagged granular fertiliser from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company (Kafco) at a total cost of Tk 55.90 crore. Each tonne of fertiliser will cost $235.875.

The Cabinet body gave its nod to proposals to import 700,000 tonnes of Marban crude oil from Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and 620,000 tonnes of Arabian light crude oil from Saudi Arabian Oil Company.

The total import will cost Tk 3620 crore as each barrel of Marban oil is being estimated at $48.62 while each barrel of Arabian light crude at $44.30.

The committee also approved another proposal to import 50,000 tonnes of furnace oil on the G-to-G basis involving Tk 113.51 crore.