Padma bridge with own resource, Muhith tells JS

 

AMA Muhith

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Monday said the government would construct the Padma bridge with own resource, keeping the present design unchanged.
He made the announcement in the Jatiya Sangsad but he did not elaborate how the financing will be made.
The finance minister came up with the plan on how the Padma Bridge project will be implemented, four days after the government withdrew a request for World Bank financing.
Muhith said, “We have already decided that we will not make any change to the Padma bridge design or its estimated cost.”

Citing six components of the project, Muhith said it would cost $3.05 billion (Tk 24,394 crore). He said the government would have to collect the amount within four years from now.
“We want to complete implementation of the whole project with our own money. For this, we will have to give our attention first to provide foreign currency equivalent to $1.8 billion from our own resources”.
Muhith said the implementation of the bridge would now start in the current fiscal year and would be completed within next three years.