The Chattogram City Corporation has cancelled the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signed for conducting a feasibility study on the proposed monorail project in Chattogram city.
The agreement was cancelled through an office order signed by CCC Mayor Dr Shahadat Hossain yesterday (24 June).
The Egyptian Embassy in Dhaka informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) through a letter on 22 June that Kawsar Alam Chowdhury was not an authorised representative of the “Arab Contractors Orascom Peninsula Consortium”.
After verifying the information received through the letters from the Egyptian Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, CCC said there was no legal basis to keep the agreement signed with a fake representative effective.
For this reason, the previous MoU and MoA signed with Kawsar Alam Chowdhury, who claimed to be the representative of the consortium, have been cancelled with immediate effect.
Copies of the decision have already been sent to BIDA, the Local Government Division, the Africa Wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and CCC’s chief engineer and law officer for information and necessary action.
Earlier on 1 June last year, the city corporation signed the MoU with the “Arab Contractors Orascom Peninsula Consortium” to conduct a feasibility study for the monorail project in Chattogram city.
At that time, Kawsar Alam Chowdhury signed the agreement, claiming himself to be an authorised representative of the consortium.
Later, on 24 June of the same year, a final agreement, or MoA, was signed between the two sides to ensure progress of the project.
The estimated cost of the project was set at Tk25,000 crore.
After the signing of the agreement, the CCC mayor sent a demi-official letter to the executive chairman of BIDA, seeking necessary approval and cooperation for the project.
Following CCC’s letter, BIDA sent letters to the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry, the Local Government Division and the Power Division to take further steps on the matter.
As a result, formal discussions on the project began at the government’s policymaking level.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) is preparing a transport “master plan” to address severe traffic congestion in Chattogram city.
The Tk70.63 crore project is being jointly financed by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the government, and its tenure will continue until December 2026.
Recently, a high-level DTCA team visited Chattogram to inspect the traffic situation.
DTCA said whether the project will be metro rail, light rail transit (LRT) or monorail will be finalised based on passenger demand.
Meanwhile, CCC Mayor Dr Shahadat Hossain has strongly emphasised implementing a comparatively less expensive monorail project in Chattogram.
A specific proposal has also been submitted to DTCA from CCC.
The mayor’s goal was to complete the feasibility study by December and begin the main work of the monorail next year.
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