Cox’s Bazar railway station being handed over to foreign operators

Special Correspondent

The country’s land and water borders, Chittagong port, energy management and various sectors are being handed over to foreigners one by one. In this continuation, the country’s first international standard Cox’s Bazar railway station, built at the initiative of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, has been added. This magnificent structure of the country, built at a huge cost, is practically abandoned today. Due to incompetence and inefficient management, Bangladesh Railway has not been able to start the full operations of the station.

And so now, to cover up their own incompetence and inefficiency, the railway authorities are keen to hand over the entire station to foreigners.

The railway line from Dohazari to Cox’s Bazar was inaugurated on November 11, 2023. Train services began the following month. But this modern 6-storey railway station, built at a cost of Tk 215 crore, has become a derelict infrastructure today. The station has no passenger services, no shops or food courts, and even the toilets are unusable. At night, the station premises are plunged into darkness; the entire area is empty except for a handful of passengers.

According to the railways’ calculations, once the station is operational, it could cost 10 to 12 crore taka per month on utility bills. However, since they do not have the capacity to bear such an expense, they are now planning to hand over the responsibility of operating the station to a ‘third party’. The railways’ statement makes it clear that the third party will be a foreign organization.

In this situation, letters are being exchanged between the Ministry of Railways and Bangladesh Railways to invite tenders. So far, letters have been sent to the Ministry of Railways three times. If the ministry approves, the Railways will invite tenders. Companies with experience in operating five-star hotels will be asked to participate in this tender. The tender will be of international level. If a domestic company wants, it can participate in a joint venture with a foreign company.

Railways Director General Md. Afzal Hossain said that they are preparing to give the responsibility of operating Cox’s Bazar station to a foreign company. Domestic companies will be able to participate only in joint ventures (JVs) with foreigners – that is, the railways does not consider domestic entrepreneurs as eligible on their own.

The question arises—is this foreign-dependent attitude of the railways really necessary, or is it a strategic cover for inefficient management? The work was in the hands of Chinese contractors (CREC and CCECC) from the beginning to the end of the project; now that the management is also handed over to foreigners, where is the opportunity to build domestic capacity?

China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), and Bangladesh’s Tama Construction and Max Infrastructure Limited are working on the Tk 18,340 crore Dohazari-Cox’s Bazar railway construction project, which began in July 2018.

According to the Railway Ministry’s documents, the ground floor of the six-storey station has an area of ​​46,073 square feet. It is supposed to house three shops, an ATM booth, a post office, luggage and locker storage facilities, and a passenger restroom. There are ticket counters and various government office services; but these were not seen in real existence on the ground. There were only a few benches for passengers to sit.

The second floor has an area of ​​42,077 square feet. This floor houses 17 shops and a food court. There are departure lounges, waiting lounges, tourist information desks, product display centers, and prayer rooms; but none of these are operational yet. Looking down, the upper floors appear closed and dark.

The third floor is 35,325 square feet in area. It has 17 shop spaces for rent and five showrooms, a food court and a restaurant. The fourth floor is 43,066 square feet in area, where there are 39 rooms for hotel facilities – 25 of them are standard and 14 are deluxe. There are four commercial spaces, a restaurant and a dining area.

The fifth floor (35,734 sq ft) has seven office spaces, a multipurpose hall, and a restaurant. The sixth floor (36,592 sq ft) is entirely designated for multipurpose use.

Each floor has stairs, escalators, baby care corners, toilets and information desks. There are 17 other structures outside the building, including an administrative building. In total, the infrastructure of this station building, built at a cost of 215 crore taka, is now practically defunct. Such misuse is not only a waste, but also a deep blow to the state’s investment.

Communication expert and BUET professor Dr. Md. Hadiuzzaman commented that such deterioration is happening due to lack of initiative and proper planning.

According to him, it was important to empower domestic institutions instead of blindly relying on foreigners.

In other words, Bangladesh Railways is now in a situation where it is choosing to hand over billions of taka of government assets to foreign companies to cover up its own inefficiency. This trend is not only economically but also morally worrisome.