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WB loan will be better than spending from our own funds'

M Abdul Majid, Former Chairman, National Board of Revenue (NBR), Bangladesh, talks to The Daily Star on government's plan to build the Padma Bridge at its own cost.
BASICALLY, if the loan that we were supposed to get no longer holds, then of course there are going to be difficulties. The money that ADB or WB would have lent us would have very nominal charge, with repayment period of 30 years and an interest rate of only 1%. You can almost call it a grant. The ownership of the bridge would also have stayed with us. If we go ahead with the partnership with Malaysia, we will have to give them a significant amount because they have to operate, raise the money and then repay. It may take up to 36 years. For 36 years, we will not get anything out of it.
If the loan deal had worked out, then we would be the owner of the bridge from the first day. For example, even after paying the interest of the annual loan of the Jamuna Bridge, we still have an FDR of Tk. 1,000 crore. This is a huge amount. We could have reached a break even point within a year. There can be guidelines for not charging exorbitant toll but it also needs to be taken into consideration that the money that has been spent needs to be recovered. Then what may happen is the company might ask for 60 more years to repay that money. So it will be very costly whichever way we choose to do it.
If it was with the WB, we would have the ownership and would continue to repay our own loan. We would also be able to charge a reasonable rate from the common people. To pass the Jamuna Bridge, one spends Tk. 100 if one is travelling by car. The Padma Bridge is going to be costlier. Now, if we are to charge around say, Tk. 1,200 for a car, then one will naturally thinks of the money spent on a half an hour ride, and will eventually prefer a ferry over the bridge.
In the end, we can admit that if we had the loan and the economic viability it would
always be better than spending from our own funds. It is definitely possible to seek help from the whole nation. The whole nation has to sacrifice in order to pull this off. For example, if we were to import, we would have subsidised the tax and VAT if the WB was still there. Since it is going to be our own money now, we do not have to do that, but it is going to bring down our revenue.
The revenue that we already have cannot cover the whole budget, for instance there is a deficit of Tk.92,000 crore. If I cannot bring down the deficit, then my bank borrowing goes up. There is a gap between the revenue that the government earns and the pace of the revenue expenditure, and we are reeling under the pressure.
Changing the mindset is also important. Until the revenue system has been made user- friendly and until the common people have their faith in the system, the revenue will not come, and there lies the real challenge. If we want to increase the revenue, then we have to spend more too. Spending needs money. So what do you do first? Spend or earn the revenue? Or do you wait for the revenue to spend more? If the loan was there, our revenues would have been generated and investments would be easier too.
Take the example of the Jamuna Bridge. We have been owners of it since the beginning, which is why we could have a reasonable rate for it. When we had passed the project in 2001, we had Tk.500-700 crore saved. Now it is nearly Tk. 1,000 crore. This money is in FDR, which means it is generating more money. Since it is the same department that is working, we can use the money from Jamuna Bridge in building the Padma Bridge. If I had owned one Padma Bridge, then the money earned will have contributed to the making of the second one. The ownership is verv important.