Malaysia proposes finally for Padma Bridge financing

Malaysia on Thursday gave its final draft proposal for signing the deal about financing Padma Bridge project, which has been stalled due to World Bank’s suspension of funding on corruption allegations.

According to the proposal, the Malaysian government will invest around Tk 3 billion and take 3 years time to complete the construction work.

It will also operate 37 years before handing over the bridge to the government of Bangladesh, sources said.

Malaysian Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for infrastructure affairs for South Asia Dato Seri S Samy Vellu placed the proposal on the project to Communications Minister Obaidul Quader at the Bridges Division in the capital.

The proposal came within days after the government rejected the World Bank’s compromise conditions that it should remove from office all persons related to the alleged corruption in the Padma Bridge project and that it should appoint an independent supervisor to monitor the Anti-Corruption Commission’s probe into the “graft”.

Talking to the reporters later, Quader said the proposal will be reviewed thoroughly before talking to Malaysia. He said the national, economical and public interests would be given priority in accepting the proposal.

About World Bank financing, he said the finance ministry has been trying to resolve the issue. Quader also said the door for negotiation with the WB will remain open before signing the final deal with Malaysia.

He hoped that the ground breaking programme would be arranged in few months after completing necessary process to this effect.

Star Online

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