Communications minister Obaidul Quader said on Monday Malaysia has offered to invest in the construction of the Padma bridge.
“The Malaysian government has expressed its keen interest in the construction of the bridge. We have received their offer….but there’re some formalities. We will sincerely consider the issue,” he said on Monday.
The minister spoke to reporters after a seven-strong delegation led by Malaysian government’s special envoy Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu met him at the Setu Bhaban.
Quader said the government would get back to the Malaysian authorities through the foreign ministry.
The World Bank in last October suspended a $1.2 billion loan to the government for the $ 2.9 billion mega project alleging corruption.
The Anticorruption Commission is currently investigating the charges that the government has frequently refuted.
Quader said that agreement would be signed with either Malaysia or any other country if the existing ‘deadlock’ with the World Bank does not come to an end.
“I can firmly say that the construction of the bridge will start within a year.’
Quader said that Malaysia wanted to construct the bridge at the state-level. “We have had discussion with them on it. But there were no talks about the conditions on providing the loans.”
The World Bank as well as the other donor agencies has recently extended the deadline for loan activation for the Padma Bridge project by six months, reviving the hope that the lending agency might eventually unblock the fund.
On this issue, Quader said, “Why will we have issues with them if they can fulfil the conditions to construct the Padma bridge by the remaining time and really assure us of its construction?”
After taking power for a second term in 2009, the government has been putting the highest priority to the construction of the 6.15 km long bridge across the Padma River which would link the country’s north with its more-isolated south.
Apart from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged $610 million, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) $400 million and Islamic Development Bank $140 million as loan for the $2.9 billion-project to build the bridge.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Jan 26 hinted that her government would not take money from the World Bank to implement the Padma bridge project if it fails to prove charges of corruption it raised in the country’s biggest infrastructure project.
Source : bdnews24
