$17.6m ADB loan for Padma Bridge

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FE Report
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing Bangladesh a credit worth US$17.6 million to finance the cost of project preparation for the construction of the Padma Bridge that will link the country's economically depressed southwest zone with the more advanced eastern zone.
Bangladesh will mobilise a further US$4.4 million to complete funding for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Design Project, said an ADB press release.
The project involves the preparation of a detailed design and engineering documents for the construction of the Padma Bridge, including river-training works and approach roads.
The project will also assist state agency Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority in engaging contractors for the construction, the press release said.
"The social, economic and industrial underdevelopment of the southwest zone is due, in part, to difficult access across the Padma River to the rest of the country," said Dong-Soo Pyo, principal financial analysis specialist of ADB's South Asia Department.
While there have been improvements to the road network of the southwest zone, links with the rest of the country across the Padma River are still only by ferry. The capacity of ferry services is very limited, and waiting time at ferry landings is about an hour for buses and light vehicles and two hours for trucks.
The southwest region has one of the highest poverty rates in Bangladesh. About 42 per cent of the population lived below the absolute poverty line as of 2004. In the Khulna division in the Southwest, the poverty incidence is 46 per cent compared with 33 per cent in capital Dhaka.
The proposed bridge will be a large-scale infrastructure project, and its construction and operation will significantly benefit various sectors of the economy, both in Bangladesh and in South Asia as a whole. The distance from Dhaka to nearly all major destinations in the Southwest will be reduced by 100 kilometers or more once the bridge is operational.
There will also be huge savings in passenger and commodity transport costs.
Roads are important for the regional cooperation, emphasised in the long-term development strategy of the ADB. At the centre of the South Asia growth quadrangle, Bangladesh is targeting facilitating most intra-regional shipments as it expands and upgrades its transport infrastructure, including the Padma Bridge project.