Bangladesh Railway will construct a state-of-the-art 15-storey building near Chattogram Railway Station under Public Private Partnership (PPP). There will be hotels, shopping malls, offices, cineplexes, convention centers, family recreation centers and apartments.
Epic Properties Limited has got the construction work at a cost of around Tk 45 crore. After 40 years of construction, the installation will be full owned by the Railways.
An agreement has been signed between Railways and private partner Epic Properties Limited for the construction of these facilities on the basis of public-private partnership.
An agreement was signed between Bangladesh Railway and private partner Epic Properties Limited at Rail Bhaban on Tuesday. The agreement was signed on behalf of Railways by Focal Person Md. Ahsan Jabir, Additional Chief Engineer (Bridges) and Epic Properties Limited Director Anwar Hossain.
Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan said the government has set a target of implementing development activities on the basis of 30 per cent PPP partnership as per the current policy. Of our 12 projects, two agreements have already been signed.
Regarding the current activities of the railways, the Railway Minister said the Prime Minister has taken special initiatives for the development of the railway sector. He has made a separate ministry. Multi-faceted activities have been undertaken for the development of railways.
Initiatives have been taken to convert the whole country to broad gauge by making one-way arrangement of meter and broad gauge lines. Single line will be converted to double line in phases. At present our important projects are Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, construction of Second Bangabandhu Railway Bridge over the river Jamuna, construction of new railway line from Chattogram to Cox's Bazar, Dhaka-Chattogram railway line will be converted to dual gauge in phases.
The Railway Minister said that development of railways is necessary for the development of a country. The more developed a country is, the more developed its railways are. Shopping malls are set up next to stations in developed countries. Initiatives have been taken to streamline the railway system of our country in the same way. We have a lot of land next to the station. We believe that with the income earned from shopping malls, we will be able to make the railways self-sufficient and profitable one day.
PPP Authority Chief Executive Sultana Afroz and Bangladesh Railway Director General Dhirendranath Majumder were present as special guests at the signing ceremony. Secretary of the Ministry of Railways Md. Humayun Kabir presided over the function.
