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Padma Loan Crisis

Mashiur all set to go?

Rejaul Karim Byron
In the interest of Padma bridge funding, Mashiur Rahman has tentatively agreed to step down as the prime minister's economic affairs adviser, highly placed government sources have said.
The co-financiers of the project - - Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) — have extended their loan effectiveness after getting specific commitment from the government to remove Mashiur, officials of the two agencies said.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith assured ADB Director General for South Asia Juan Miranda of Mashiur's removal when they met on Thursday, they added.
The resignation of Mashiur is the last hurdle in efforts to get the $1.2 billion loan, cancelled by the World Bank in June over corruption allegations, revived.
On Thursday evening, a meeting of the World Bank,
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ADB and Jica, was informed of steps the government had already taken and its next move for resolving the stalemate over Padma bridge funding.
The WB also told the meeting about its latest position.
Held at a Gulshan hotel, the discussion was attended by Juan Miranda, among others, the officials added.
They also said government letters requesting the ADB and Jica for extending the loan deadline had mentioned Mashiur's possible departure from the position. The deadline was due to expire on Friday.
After this commitment on the part of the government, at the last moment the ADB extended the deadline by a month and Jica by three weeks.
The ADB had pledged a $615-million loan and Jica $400 million for the construction of the 6.15km bridge that would connect the capital with the country's 16 southwesterndistricts.
The WB recently came up with three conditions, including the removal of Mashiur, for withdrawal of its loan cancellation.
The two other conditions are issuance of gazette notification about the resignation of Syed Abul Hossain, and terms of reference (TOR) to ensure aWB panel's access to the ACC probe into the graft
allegations.
About a month after Abul resigned as ICT minister, the Cabinet Division issued a circular on August 23 declaring the post vacant.
Sources said the ACC might sign theTOR getting the go-ahead from government high-ups.
Recently, talks on the reversal of the WB loan cancellation started afresh, following massive diplomatic efforts involving the US, India and Japan, but uncertainty prevailed over Mashiur's resignation.
Juan Miranda’s positive response to the press after a meeting with the finance ministeronThursday was also based on the promise that Mashiur would go, said one of the officials.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was apparently unwilling to put pressure on the adviser to quit while the WB was firm on not withdrawing the loan cancellation if he stayed.
After Hasina went to Tehran to attend the Non-Aligned Movement summit, a senior minister held an exclusive meeting with the PM's adviser, government sources said.
The minister tried to convince Mashiur, who is also integrity adviser of the project, to resign for the sake of the country.
The adviser would get a clean chit if he resigned and
the allegation against him was proved unfounded through the Anti-Corruption Commission probe under WB supervision, the minister said. The people would also consider him innocent.
At this point, Mashiur agreed to step down, the source claimed.
Mashiur was not available when The Daily Star phoned his residence for his comments yesterday.
As the PM returned from the Nam Summit yesterday, a decision about his resignation is likely to be taken in a couple ofdays.
However, a top finance ministry official said nothing could be said for sure until the adviser resigned. The government had also informed the co-financiers that no final decision could be taken as the PM was abroad.
At a meeting with the PM's International Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi in Washington last month, WB officials gave a clear signal of withdrawing the loan cancellation if all conditions were met, sources said.
According to many officials, the government had informed the ADB and Jica about the WB indication. Also, Muhith himself had conveyed this information to the ADB directorgeneral.
The finance ministry official said WB Managing Director Mulyani Indrawati played an important role in
the process of the loan revival.
After Mashiur's resignation, the government would send a formal letter to the WB this week requesting withdrawal of the loan cancella-uoa, the official added.