High-powered body to add impetus to Padma Bridge work

Rezaul Karim | Published: February 07, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The government has constituted a high-powered inter-ministerial committee aiming to help accelerate the implementation of Padma Multipurpose Bridge, officials have said.
The nine-member body styled "Project Steering Committee" (PSC) is headed by the secretary of Bridges Division. The project director of the bridge is the member secretary of the committee, they added.
Representatives from the ministry of finance (MoF), Economic Relations Division (ERD), ministry of land (MoL), and Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) have been included in the committee as members.
According to the term of reference (ToR) of the PSC, the committee will direct the PIC (Project Implementation Committee) to conduct work on the project and solve any problem arising during implementation of the project.
Besides, the committee will take necessary decisions and policies to look into the matters that the PIC will not be able to resolve, the ToR mentioned.
"The PSC has been formed on Padma Bridge mainly to expedite further the implementation rate of the ongoing bridge projects. The committee will supervise different activities of projects," a senior official told the FE.
When his opinion was sought about the recent move, Deputy Director (Planning and Development) of Bangladesh Bridges Authority Md Abul Hossain told the FE on Saturday that at this the implementation rate of the project would be enhanced and accountability and transparency would be ensured.
The PSC was supposed to be formed in its DPP (Development Project Proposal), he added.
Currently, eight fast-track projects are being implemented in the country and the Padma Multipurpose Bridge construction is among these projects, sources concerned said.
The other fast-track projects are: Metro-rail, Rooppur nuclear power plant, Sonadia deep-sea port, Paira seaport, Matarbari coal-fired power station, Rampal 1,320-MW thermal power plant and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal.
According to them, the project work on the Tk 287.93 billion Padma Multipurpose Bridge is progressing at a satisfactory pace with some 16 per cent of the main bridge construction work having been completed until November 2015.
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