China pledges assistance for Joydebpur-Mymensingh railway upgrade

During the 2-day Dhaka visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 14, 2016, nine new projects have been included in the MoU indicating the interest if China to assist.

One project included is the "Construction of a Dual Gauge Track parallel to the existing Metre Gauge line in Joydevpur-Mymensingh Section." The existing railway line, the Bangladesh JMJ Railway, connects the Dhaka capital of Bangladesh from the Joydevpur(JYR) station through Mymensing(MYN) to Jamalpur(JLX).

The 145km-long railway line will be upgraded by doubling the track from Meter Gauge to Dual Gauge and be attached an additional 5km OD line, reaching a total length of 150km.

There will be 25 stations along the line, including 4 main stations. 4 bridges will be reconstructed; the lengths of bridges add up to 2185m.

BBC reports that Bangladesh first submitted the project to the Chinese side to apply for assistance in 2015 with an estimated cost of USD331m. Two other media reports record an estimated cost of USD258m.

The Asian Development Bank's Final Report on Updating Railway Master Plan records the project cost in 2017 at BDT7,255 crore, roughly the equivalent of USD877m.

According to a press release by China Railway Wuhan Survey and Design Institute Co. on Aug 17, 2018, the project is implemented by China Railway Bridge Survey and Design Institute Co., Ltd. and China Railway International.

On May 14, 2018, the project finished the initial survey and design and the project proposal has been submitted to the Pakistani Ministry of Railway in order to determine the project cost and contract bidding price.

As such, it is highly likely that the project cost has not been finalized as of August, 2018, and Chinese financing has not committed yet.

For now, coder records the project status as pledge, flow type as vague, and does not include a transaction amount, in case project updates appear in the future. As of 2021, it appears that the project is still awaiting official approval and thus remains in the pledge state.