BR to build medical college in Chittagong

Bangladesh Railway (BR) will build a 500-bed medical college and hospital in the country's prime port city of Chittagong, officials said.

"The college and hospital will be built on six acres of land of the existing 50-bed Central Railway Building (CRB) hospital at CRB hills on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis," Amjad Hossain, assistant general manager of BR for education and establishment, told BSS.

Director of the project Abdul Jalil said the medical college and hospital would be developed in two phases in next eight years. The first phase will be completed by 2021 when a major portion of the hospital with 250 beds would come into operation.

"On completion, the medical college will enroll 500 students every year while the hospital will have 500 beds and all facilities for providing modern and reliable health services in the port city," he said.

The project director said the company, selected under the PPP policy guidelines, will develop the college and hospital and run it for the next 40 years before handing over it to the railway authorities.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt Ltd, India (PwC India) has been appointed as the consultant for providing advisory services for developing the existing 50-bed hospital into 500 medical college and hospital, the railways official said.

PwC will also assist BR in assessing technical, commercial, financial, environmental and social viability for the project, PPP structuring and in carrying out bid process management for selection of the private partner for implementing the project, the official said.

"We are now preparing tender document, which will be floated after getting approval from the railways ministry," Jalil said.

Mohammad Jasim Udin, chief state officer of BR, told BSS that the technical and financial feasibility of the proposed medical college had been completed in May last.

The Parliamentary Committee on the Ministry of Railways in a meeting in Chittagong Circuit house on April 24 last approved the hospital project.

"If things go on as per the plan, the construction work of the medical college would begin in 2018," Jalil said.

Source: bss