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Padma Project

Govt moves to resolve crisis

Sending 2 letters to WB with proposals for solution; no details obtained

Staff Correspondent
The government will send two letters to the World Bank with proposals to resolve the issue of corruption allegations swirling around the Padma bridge project.
The letters would clarify the government position on the issue, Finance Minister AMA Muhith told reporters at his secretariat office after a meeting with Communications
Minister Syed Abul Hossain.
“I talked to the communications minister on the Padma bridge issue. We have almost arrived at a decision on the matter,” said Muhith.
He, however, did not elaborate.
The finance minister said the project's Integrity Adviser Mashiur Rahman, also economic affairs adviser to the prime
minister, would write to the WB integrity vice president in Washington.
In the letter, Mashiur would convey the government's response to theWB's corruption allegations involving the project, the minister explained.
Under a new arrangement, the WB and the government jointly appoint an integrity adviser to any big project financed by the bank. The adviser is responsible for looking into any irregularities related to the project.
As a World Bank governor, Muhith will also dispatch a letter to the WB president touching upon all aspects of the Padma bridge issue.
The finance minister said he will brief reporters and issue a statement on the
matter the same day he sends the letter to the WB president.
Both the letters have been prepared following discussions with the prime minister, Muhith said.
Asked about a possible solution to the snags in the WB's financing for the project, he said, “I think it can be resolved."
“I have been saying all along that it is a temporary problem and it will be resolved very soon."
Asked whether the com-munications minister would be removed, Muhith said, “I will not comment on this.”
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told journalists at her ministry that the government would provide donors with all necessary information regarding the Padma bridge
project.
She hoped that there would not be any problem.
Dipu Moni met the WB vice president for South Asia inWashington on October 13.
On September 21, the WB integrity vice presidency handed over a letter and a copy of its probe report on corruption to the finance minister. The documents raised allegations of corrup-tion against Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain and his business firm.
The WB has already suspended its fund of $ 1.2 billion to the Padma bridge project. T\vo other major donors — the Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency — have opted to “wait and see” until the government and the WB settle the issue.