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Self-finance not viable

Expert suggests low-interest loan

Staff Correspondent
Implementation of the Padma bridge project is very difficult without low interest loans, eminent civil engineer Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury said yesterday.
“The project won't attract private investors, unless a high toll is set,” he told a discussion at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) in the capital.
The World Bank, lead financier of the 2.9 billion
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dollar project, recently cancelled its loan agree-m e n t w i t h the Bangladesh government on graft allegations in the selection of a consultant. Jamilur headed the project's technical evaluation committee.
With the groundwork done so far, including the selection of contractors, he said the 6.15-km bridge can be built at Mawa-Janjira point in four years.
The evaluation committee disqualified the Chinese company CRCC for lack of experience, but without putting any pressure, the World Bank wanted the technical team to reconsider its experience, mentioned Jamilur in his keynote
address at the discussion.
The Padma bridge project involved a big engineering challenge, as it requires 115-metre deep piling with one of the strongest river currents, he said, adding that the piling of the Bangabandhu (Jamuna) Bridge was 72-metrc deep.
Speaking at the meet-i n g , K h a n d a k c r Mosharraf Hossain, minister for expatriates wel-fare and overseas employment, said the government had decided to build the bridge by raising funds locally and also drawing it from bilateral donors.
Allegations made by the World Bank were not at all acceptable, said the minister, and the government intended to uphold
national dignity by building the bridge on its own.
The government was planning to spare Tk 24,000 crore from this year's national budget for the project, he added.
“Building the bridge with self-finance might cut economic growth for the next four or five years.... It would have been better if low interest loans were available,” observed Mosharraf.
The IEB organised the discussion on design and implementation of the Padma bridge project.
Yeafesh Osman, state minister for science and technology, and IEB president Nurul Huda, among others, were pres-ent at the meeting chaired by Md Abdul Azim Joardar.