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Padma Bridge

No headway in fresh bid to get fund

Rejaul Karim Byron
In more than two weeks since ADB and Jica have extended their loan validity deadline by a month, the government has made no progress to ease the bottleneck regarding the Padma bridge project.
It has also failed to make any headway in finding alternative funding from Malaysia, but decided to float fresh tenders for a supervising firm by this month and for the main bridge construction next month, said an official of the Bridges Division.
Malaysia's proposal to fund the Padma bridge has been frustrating for the government. On August 5, a six-member Malaysian delegation submitted a proposal on the concession agreement.
A finance ministry official said as per the proposal the bridge would cost $ 4.8 billion whereas the WB-incorporated consortium estimated the cost at $ 2.9 billion.
The Malaysian team later slashed many components of the existing design and placed a new proposal with an estimated cost of $ 3.2 billion.
A high official of the Bridges Division said the new design has reduced much of the cost for river training which might be risky for the bridge. The proposal has not been finalised yet, he added.
On July 31, the Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) extended their deadline for loan validity with a notion that the government would settle things with the World Bank and revive its $ 1.2 billion loan.
The WB on June 29 cancelled its loan over the
government's n o n -compliance with two of the bank's four conditions related to the corruption allegation in the bridge project.
One of the unfulfilled conditions was to send some public officials, including a minister and a mi nisi er-level official against whom the allegation had been brought, on leave.
Although former communications minister Syed Abul I lossain has resigned as a minister, it is still to come into effect.
The Anti-Corruption C o m m i s s i o n had also
assured that it would investigate the corruption allegations in line with the WB proposals. But sources said the ACC had not sent any formal proposal to the bank yet.
Even the government has not sent any formal request to the WB to review its decision.
About the alternative plan to form a separate consortium comprising ADB, Jica and other donors excluding the WB, a Jica official observed that the whole process would take until the end of next year to get approved.
Jica had also clearly stated that in case of a new arrangement the graft allegation should still be taken care of as per the WB proposal.