Dhaka Times Report. New information has been found about the Padma Bridge. The current government is already facing various difficulties with the Padma Bridge. This time again the question about the actual allocation of this bridge has been raised. The allocation of Padma bridge is only 804 million taka!
According to the information received, only 804 crore rupees have been allocated for the Padma Bridge project in the new ADP. In the ADP of the financial year 2012-13, an allocation of Tk 3,000 crore is supposed to be made for the Padma Bridge, but only Tk 804 crore has been mentioned in the documents of the planning department itself. The government is confused about the financing of the Padma Bridge. Confirming the allocation, Mohammad Fazlul Bari, a member of the Physical Infrastructure Department of the Ministry of Planning, said that Planning Secretary Bhuiyan Safiqul Islam may have mistakenly mentioned the amount of money in the press conference. He claimed that the government has a vested interest in building the Padma Bridge. However, the government is determined to build this bridge. He confirmed that Tk 3000 crore has not been allocated to ADP for this bridge project. According to Ministry of Planning sources, in the new ADP for the financial year 2012-13, 804 crores have been allocated for the construction project of 'Padma Bahumukhi Bridge'. Out of this domestic financing is Tk 572 crore. And IDB will give Tk 232 crore as foreign aid.
According to ERD sources, Padma was given final approval in the meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) in January last year with an allocation of Tk 292 crore. After that, 120 million dollars with the World Bank, 400 million dollars with the Japanese subsidiary, 61.5 million dollars with ADP, and 140 million dollars with the Islamic Development Bank were signed. Note that a new annual development program (ADP) of Tk 55,000 crore has been approved for the financial year 2012-13. The number of projects included is one thousand 37. Out of the total allocation in this year's ADP, domestic financing has been estimated at Tk 33,500 crore and foreign aid as project aid at Tk 21,500 crore.
The construction of Padma Bridge is one of the major issues in the election promises of the current ruling government. But after three years of the government's tenure, no significant progress has been made in this regard due to lack of funding. It is known that the World Bank is not thinking of canceling the loan agreement regarding the Padma bridge. Rather, the organization hopes that the authorities will take appropriate action and carry out more investigations seriously. But even though Abul Hossain was removed from the ministry on charges of corruption, the government did not take any action against the accused. That is why the World Bank has not given any response regarding the financing of this project. For this reason, the government is trying to find sources of financing outside the World Bank.
Meanwhile, it is known that the government has tried to finance this alternative as the 237 million dollar agreement made by the government with 4 development partners has not been effective for a long time. Sources said that as part of this, proposals have come from 5 institutions so far. A technical and economic cooperation agreement was signed with the Malaysian government. But at that time, it was said from the bridge department that no contract will be signed until the existing contract with the development partners is resolved. Now the concerned people still have doubts whether the Malaysian government will finance this project considering everything.
According to ERD sources, if there is an agreement with Malaysia, the cooperation in various projects with the World Bank will be uncertain. On the other hand, there is uncertainty about the meeting of Bangladesh Development Forum centered on the Padma Bridge. Although the Development Forum is supposed to meet every year, there have been no meetings since 2010. Although the development partners are interested in holding this meeting in April this year, the government is not showing interest because of the Padma Bridge.
However, the government is looking at the implementation of Padma Bridge very seriously. Because while the World Bank is avoiding financing, it has become a challenge for the government. The Minister of Communications has already said that even if the World Bank does not cooperate, we will build the Padma Bridge.
English 
Bengali