Cost of Padma Bridge project rises to $2.9b

FE Team | Published: October 01, 2010 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FHM Humayan Kabir
The proposed Padma Bridge Project will now cost US$2.9 billion, an escalation by $0.5 million over the initial estimate, a new assessment has revealed.
Communications ministry officials said Wednesday building of the Padma bridge by the year 2013 will be difficult as the government will require mobilising nearly $650 million in additional fund to implement the project.
A fresh assessment has put the cost at $2.9 billion for the construction of the proposed 6.15-kilometre steel-truss Padma bridge, a senior communications ministry official told the FE.
He said the ministry has requested the Economic Relations Division (ERD) to seek additional funds from potential donors for constructing the country's largest bridge Padma, which will connect the southwestern region with capital Dhaka.
"We will send request letters to three major donors within a couple of days for additional commitment," ERD secretary M Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told the FE.
The ERD will request the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the Japan government, which have already pledged to provide $2.12 billion, to raise their lending level for the Padma Bridge project, he said.
The World Bank has committed $1.20 billion, ADB $615 million, Japan government $300 million and the Islamic Development Bank $140 million for building the road-cum-railway bridge.
New Zealand-based consulting firm Maunsell-AECOM has designed the proposed Padma bridge in late August last year with an estimated US$2.4 billion cost for building the 6.15 kilometre bridge.
Agency reports add: The Communications Minister Abul Hossain on Thursday has assured that Padma Bridge construction will start in due time despite World Bank's (WB) objection for which the government has to restart the entire tendering process.
"It might take time to finalize a contractor through re-tendering…but it won't create any obstacle in starting construction work of the bridge timely," he said while talking to journalists at the Secretariat after a meeting with World Bank resident representative Ellen Goldstein.
The Communications Minister had a meeting with the WB official where different issues including financing of the Padma Bridge were discussed.
When asked about their opinion, the WB officials said they were not opposed to providing funds for Padma Bridge.