The government has finally issued letter of acceptance to China Major Bridge Engineering Company to award the work on main Padma Bridge construction.
Project Director of the US$2.9 billion Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project issued the letter to the Chinese firm on Monday after getting approval of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
"It means work on the country's longest bridge begins with the issuance of the letter to the Chinese company," said Project Director Mohammad Shafiqul Islam.
He said China Major Bridge can now start initial work like site development, materials collection etc, as preparation for the full fledged bridge construction.
The Chinese firm won the country's expensive work against its financial offer of Tk 121.33 billion.
Officials said the Chinese firm has now to produce bank guarantee which is 10 per cent of its proposed cost to sign the contract with the government within 28 days.
Chinese company is ready to furnish the bank guarantee within a week from the date of receipt of the letter, sources told the FE.
The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) invited the four companies which were pre-qualified before suspension of loan by the World Bank and other development partners.
Though three firms were found responsive technically, apart from the China Major Bridge Company, two others firms, however, did not submit their financial proposals before the deadline expired.
After getting the project's foreign consultant's report on the financial proposals, the technical evaluation committee of the BBA recommended the lone financial proposal from the participating firms to get approval from the cabinet committee on government purchase. The cabinet committee's approval was given on May 22.
The Prime Minister finally approved the financial proposal on Thursday last soon after returning home from Japan.
The PMB Project initiated in 2009 under the foreign partners' financial arrangement, was, however, stalled over an allegation of corruption in the bidding process brought by the World Bank.
Due to the delay for about three years in starting the project, the cost of building the 6.15 km bridge was revised to Tk 160 billion from Tk 91.72 billion estimated in 2010. The China Major Bridge Engineering Company proposed the implementation of the work at a cost of Tk 121.33 billion. The government will bear the entire cost.
Meanwhile, after the issuance of the work order, communications minister Obaidul Quader informed newsmen Monday at the secretariat office that there is no problem for starting the Padma bridge construction work.
"The agreement on the bridge construction will be signed with the Chinese company anytime as all hurdles are now over," the minister said.
