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Padma Bridge Project

Govt moves to axe WB deal

Draft reaches PMO

Staff Correspondent
Despite strong opposition from within, the government has moved to cancel the loan deal for the Padma bridge project with the World Bank to clear the way for an agreement with Malaysia or other potential donors.
A high-level meeting at the Prime Minister's Office last week made a "verbal decision" to cancel the $1.2-billion deal,
said an official of the Economic Relations Department (ERD).
“We're looking into the matter to see if there will be any legal complications should the deal be scrapped. We have also taken the opinion of the ministry concerned,” added the official, requesting anonymity.
The Bridge Division on Thursday sent a report to the PMO, detailing the overall state of the $2.97-billion project.
It explained why the deal with the WB should be cancelled before it entered an agreement with other donors. The Bridge Division also sought instructions on the cancellation of the deal.
On September 21 last year, the WB temporarily suspended the funding, bringing allegations of corruption in the project's pre-bidding process. The bank claimed that the then communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and his family firm SAI ICO had "influenced" the process.
At least one powerful minister is against cancelling the deal for two reasons: it will affect the country's relations with the WB and alternative funding will be very costly, sources in the Bridge Division and the ERD told The Daily Star.
The minister instead favours negotiations with the global lender before making such a decision, the sources added.
Khandaker Anwarul Islam, secretary of the Bridge Division, yesterday said his department was waiting for instructions from the PMO on a move for arranging fresh
funds and cancellation of the WB deal.
"The finance minister has already made it clear,” he told journalists at the Setu Bhaban after an inter-ministerial meeting on the Malaysian proposal to fund and construct the bridge.
Representatives from ERD, Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue and finance and water resources ministries attended the meeting.
Construction of the 6.12km bridge over the Padma was initially planned to start last year and be completed by the end of 2014 to connect the southern districts with the capital. But the work could not begin due to WB's fund-related suspicions.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith last week said the deal with the WB would have to be cancelled before a fresh deal with any other donor is reached.
He added that the government would have to discuss the matter with the donors.
However, ERD Secretary Iqbal Mahmud yesterday declined to comment on whether there was to be any such meeting. "We're still at the early stage," he said when asked about the cancellation of the deal.
The Padma bridge at
Mawa-Jajira point was to be co-financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). Apart from the deal with the WB, the government had signed agreements with the ADB for $615 million, Jica for $415 million and the IDB for $ 140 million.
Following the WB's allegation of corruption, Abul was removed from the communications ministry in December last year. But die WB maintained its suspension, saying the matter would be resolved after the Canadian police completed a probe into Canadian company SNC Lavalin's alleged foul play to bag the contract to supervise theproject.
Abul has all along denied anywrongdoing.
An Anti-Corruption Commission probe made public early this month found "no evidence" of the World Bank's allegations of corruption in appointing the contractor of the project.
The ACC findings came a week after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had said the government would not accept WB's assistance in the project should the latter fail to prove the allegations.