Padma Bridge Project
Govt prioritising use of promised fund
Says communications minister
Communications Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said the government's priority was to construct the Padma bridge with the donors' promised fund as the door for negotiations with World Bank was still open.
However, the government has alternative proposals and if those do not provide any outcome then the government would use its own money to construct the bridge, he said.
In September last year, World Bank suspended its funding of the US $2.9 billion Padma Multipurpose Bridge project on graft allegations. It had committed US $1.2 billion. Asian Development Bank, Jica and Islamic Development Bank are the co-financers.
Obaidul Quader was talking to journalists while on a visit to Mawa to see the project's rehabilitation and settlement works, which, till date, cost the government Tk 1,100 crore.
“The government wants to construct the main portion of the bridge with World Bank funding, if the bank agrees. We do not have any dispute with the bank,” he said.
An optimistic Obaidul Quader reiterated that the government wants to start the bridge's construction works in February next year.
Since World Bank suspended its funding, construction of the 6.10 kilometre bridge, an electoral pledge of the Awami League government, remained stalled.
Afterwards, the government took initiatives to find alternative sources for the project's funding and this resulted in a recent signing of a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia.
Obaidul Quader informed the journalists that a Malaysian delegation would visit Bangladesh on June 28 to place their formal proposal.
Malaysia would place a fresh proposal during this visit as the first proposal, placed earlier last month, had some weaknesses in it, communications ministry officials said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank looks to have softened its stance.
World Bank Vice President Isabel Guerrer, in a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier this month, proposed five new conditions for the government to ensure graft-free implementation of the project, said the officials.
Before visiting Mawa yesterday, Obaidul Quader took part in an awareness building campaign on preventing road crashes on the Dhaka-Mawa road.
He went along the road, observing firsthand the spots which are more prone to car crashes.
He was accompanied by lawmaker Tarana Halim, columnist ABM Musa, columnist Syed Abul Maksud, artist Rokeya Prachi and Ilias Kanchan, chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai Andolon.
They exchanged views with the locals on the importance of following traffic rules and avoiding the tendency to overtake, park haphazardly and take unnecessary risks while crossing roads.
Many of the locals complained that 44 speed breakers have turned the journey over this 40 km road a nightmare.
Obaidul Quader assured that the unnecessary speed breakers would be gradually removed while the road itself would be upgraded to four lanes.
Ilias Kanchan said road accidents should be declared a national problem and people, irrespective of their political affiliation, should join the awareness campaign to check road accidents and save lives.
Tarana Halim said road accidents would reduce by half if existing traffic rules were implemented.
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