Loan deal on Padma rail unlikely during Xi\'s visit

The agreement on loan for the Padma Bridge railway connectivity project is unlikely to be signed during the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Bangladesh, officials said.
It would delay starting the construction work of the project, as a result.
Bangladesh Railway officials, however, said they will be able to recover the time to be lost due to the delay in loan signing and complete the construction as scheduled.
They said necessary formalities to sign the loan agreement of US$ 3.14 billion (Tk 247.49 billion) with Chinese EXIM Bank could not be completed yet.
"It will be very difficult to complete the formalities during this short period of time left before arrival of the Chinese President," said an official, who is involved with the negotiation process.
Mr Xi is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka on October 14 on a two-day visit to Bangladesh, when a number of cooperation agreements are expected to be signed.
The official said a delegation from the Chinese bank meanwhile left Bangladesh after completing negotiations on loans for other projects - these loan agreements are expected to be signed during the visit.
The delegation had meetings with different ministries during September 27-29 to finalise negotiations and complete necessary formalities for loan agreements worth US$ 1.16 billion for three projects - purchase of six vessels, construction of Karnaphuli tunnel and water treatment plant at Dasherkandi.
However, the loan proposal on the rail connectivity project was not on table for negotiation.
Officials apprehended that starting of construction work of the railway connectivity project would be delayed due to the delay in loan agreement, making uncertain launching the rail service from the day of opening the bridge.
The government is expecting to open the bridge by December 2018. However, BR officials do not think implementation of the project would be delayed as they have done the commercial contract and got the loan assurance from the Chinese government.
"We might not be able to start the project as per plan, but will be able to make up the delay if the agreement is signed by this year," said a senior BR official.
Bangladesh Railway earlier on August 08 signed its highest ever commercial contract with the Chinese government for borrowing $ 3.14 billion under government-to-government arrangement.
Economic Relations Division forwarded its loan application via the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka on September 15.
    [email protected]