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PM stays soft on Mashiur

WB's loan revival chance dims as Muhith's efforts face red signal

Staff Correspondent
The prime minister has not yet consented to the idea of her adviser Mashiur Rahman resigning to meet the World Bank's conditions for reviving its Padma bridge financing.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith met the prime minister yesterday in a bid to work out ways to remove the snag over the project's funding. But there was no positive outcome.
PM's Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman said he would resign only if the prime minister told him that he had failed to discharge his duties trustfully.
The removal of Mashiur, who is also
SEE PAGE 6 COL 5 FROM PAGE 1 integrity adviser of the project, is the last hurdle for the government to convince the global lender to revive its $1.2 billion loan that it had cancelled in June over corruption allegations.
The government must reach an agreement with the WB by this week, as the loan effectuation date given by the project's co-financiers ADB and Jica expires on August 30. It was the fourth time the two donors extended the deadline.
The WB gave a clear signal to the government that it
would withdraw the loan cancellation if the government implemented its three conditions, including the removal of Mashiur.
After meeting the prime minister, Muhith directly went to his official residence on Minto Road. He did not attend office yesterday and cancelled the day's appointments at his office, said a finance ministry official.
Reporters kept waiting in front of his residence till evening for comments. Muhith later sent out word that he would no t speak to the press.
When reporters asked Mashiur about his resignation at his Minto Road residence, he avoided giving a direct answer, and started narrating a story.
"In the past, someone was sacrificed to satisfy the gods before the construction of a huge building, and if none was available a chicken would be sacrificed. When even a chicken was unavailable, its shadow was sacrificed to make the building's foundation strong.”
"In those days, shadow business was done over shadows. I think something
like that has happened in the case of the Padma bridge project."
Mashiur said a person should be given a chance to defend himself before he is held responsible for a condition. Otherwise, it would not be “civilized behaviour.”
“If there are any allegations against me, it has to be considered whether they can be proved."
"I have nothing to say about my resignation. However, if my resignation solves the problem over the World Bank's financing, lam ready to resign not only once