Plan to construct Second Padma Bridge deferred

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Munima Sultana
The government's plan to construct the Second Padma bridge has been deferred indefinitely as the Planning Commission denied to give approval Monday due to lack of funding arrangement.
Officials said the project proposal of US$ 1.9 billion was submitted to the commission to show the development partners the government's readiness but the project evaluation committee (PEC) refused to give the approval for insufficient arrangements for financing.
"The DPP (development project proposal) was sent to the Planning Commission in advance for getting approval as many donors were seeking government approval before giving their assurance of funding," said an official who attended the meeting.
"There is no hint of getting any fund from any development partner immediately," said the official preferring anonymity .
Officials said the PEC meeting was held on Monday to review the DPP of the 2nd Padma bridge and declined to give the approval in absence of funding assurance from any development partner.
Representatives attending the meeting from Economic Relation Division informed that officially assistance was sought from the Chinese government but the division is yet to get any response.
ERD sent the official proposal to the Chinese government mid-March asking its support for the construction of the country's 2nd largest infrastructure after the first Padma bridge.
During the visit of the Prime Minister to China in March, the issue was also discussed with the Chinese counterparts.
"But until today, no hint of assurance was received from China or any other development partners," the official added.
The PEC however asked the ERD to expedite the process of fund arrangement and place the DPP of the 2nd Padma bridge again after recasting it with funding arrangement.
The Bridge Division has planned the construction of the 6-km second Padma bridge between Goalando and Paturia based on the feasibility study which proposed two routes to connect the people of southwest region of the country with the rest.
It got approval in principal of preliminary DPP from the Planning Commission on April 23, 2009.
The JICA (Japan International cooperation Agency) conducted the feasibility study in 2005 and found two points feasible for building the Padma bridge. The government soon after coming to the power has chosen Janjira and Mawa point to construct the first Padma bridge as its cost was then estimated lower among the two proposed two points. However, cost of the first Padma bridge has escalated to $2.4 billion to add various modern and sophisticated features including making it two tier with road on the top and rail in the bottom.