When the government has been burning midnight oil to mobilise funds for constructing the all-important Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) project, the Bridge Division has sought to add a new component to the project for expanding the 'Setu Bhaban' at a cost of Tk 300 million, officials said Friday.
Officials said the Division has recently sought revision of the Padma Bridge construction project from the Planning Commission (PC) hiking its total cost by nearly 40 per cent to Tk 287.93 billion.
The proposed revised cost of the Padma Bridge project also includes the cost of expanding the 'Setu Bhaban' where the headquarters of Bridge Division is located.
After scrutinising the revised proposal, the PC has raised questions about the inclusion of the component.
The official said the Setu Bhaban expansion should have been a separate project.
"We have revised the project proposal and included our office expansion along with other components," a Bridge Division official said.
The PC official said the Bridge Division has sought Tk 82.86 billion or 40 per cent extra funds from the government in the revised project proposal.
"This kind of hike in a cost-intensive project is too ambitious. The government will be investing a large volume of taxpayers' money for building the Padma Bridge. Adding the cost for the expansion of an office to such project is unheard of," said an official, familiar with this project.
He said financing the Padma Bridge project from the country's internal sources remains a big challenge for the government. In addition, the inclusion of such a less-priority component could affect the bridge construction work.
The PC official said its Project Evaluation Committee (PEC) would review the inclusion of the 'Setu Bhaban' expansion component in the main project. "If the committee recommends, only then the revised project proposal could be approved."
The government has already started work construction of the country's largest bridge Padma at the Mawa-Janjira point on the Padma River.
The government, a year ago in May 2014, signed a deal with China Major Bridge Engineering Company Limited for constructing the bridge.
Under the deal, the company will build the main bridge within four years with a budget of Tk 121.32 billion.
The government has also signed a contract with another Chinese company Sino Hydro for river training works of the Padma Bridge, two local companies for approach roads at Mawa and Janjira sides, and the Bangladesh Army and a Korean firm for supervision works of the bridge project.
The ECNEC during the last Fakhruddin Ahmed-led non-party caretaker government in August 2007 for the first time approved the Padma Bridge project at Tk 101.61 billion where World Bank (WB) and three other foreign lenders came forward with their financing proposals.
Later, the government in January 2011 revised the project hiking its cost to Tk 205.07 billion.
Under the current FY2015 revised ADP, the government has allocated Tk78.65 billion funds for the ongoing Padma Bridge project works.
It has allocated Tk 72 billion funds for the construction works in the next year's ADP for the FY2016.
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