Cabinet body approves second Padma Bridge

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FE Report The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs Thursday approved construction of the second Padma Bridge on 'Build, Own, Operate and Transfer'(BOOT) basis under the Public Private Partnership' (PPP) initiative. The proposed bridge will be constructed at Paturia-Goalundo point of the Padma river. The decision was taken at the cabinet meeting, Continued to page 11 Col. 6 Continued from page 12 col. 4 chaired by Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith. Joint Secretary of Cabinet Division Nurul Karim briefed the reporters after the meeting. Nurul Karim said no decision on tendering process of Padma Bridge has been taken at the meeting. Sources in the Division said the second Padma bridge will be implemented under Design-Build system in which a single contractor will be responsible for financing, designing and constructing the bridge. Under the system, it is the responsibility of the authorised bidder to raise funds on soft loan or through suppliers' credit on easy term from international market. The estimated cost of the 6.10 kilometers (km) second Padma Bridge along with a railway track at Paturia -Goalundo point is $1.9 billion. A high official in the communications ministry said the implementation of the bridge will take considerable time as the project has to maintain formalities like preparing necessary documents, such as pre qualification, tender, negotiation etc under the PPP guidelines. He said as the Padma Bridge is a political commitment of the present government it has been decided now to arrange the fund from private sector inviting international tender and appointing a manager under the PPP initiative. In May 2010, the communications ministry submitted the 2nd Padma Bridge project to the Planning Commission for approval. However, the commission rejected the proposal of the ministry as it did not outline any funding arrangements. The JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) conducted the feasibility study in 2005 and approved building of the Padma Bridge. The government soon after coming to power selected Mawa-Jajira point to construct the first Padma Bridge but took further step to construct another bridge on the JICA's second option connecting the people of southwest region with the rest of the country.