Padma Bridge dramatics

Shamsul Huq Zahid The much-publicised Padma Bridge project, on its completion, was supposed to be a feather in the political cap of the incumbent government. But the project even before its takeoff has become a source of troubles for it. The troubles have originated from an allegation of corruption, perceived or otherwise, involving the bidding process of the project. The government could have pooh-poohed the corruption charge instantly. But it refrained from doing so for the allegation had come from none other than the World Bank (WB), the key multilateral development lender and lead financier of the Padma Bridge project. The government, in fact, could not hide its surprise when the WB officially communicated the graft allegation, mainly targeted at the immediate past communications minister. It took sometime for the authorities concerned to understand the content of the allegation. There were a number of visits by high WB officials from Washington to Dhaka and exchange of communications over the graft allegation but the government high-ups remained unconvinced. They had a feeling that there was not enough meat in the allegation. But the WB while sticking to its gun announced the suspension of disbursement of its $1.2 billion fund committed for the project until the resolution of the graft issue. Other lenders, including the Asian Development Bank, Japan and the Islamic Development Bank followed suit. The aid suspension had infuriated the policymakers but they preferred to remain calm and tried to assuage the lead donor's worries. The finance ministry wrote two letters to the WB requesting it to resume loan disbursement. However, it remains a mystery whether the Bank has responded to the government's request or not since nothing is being said about it in public. A leading Bengali daily quoting a WB official said the Bank has responded and only reiterated its earlier stance---no fund disbursement until the issue of graft is settled. In the meanwhile, through a minor cabinet reshuffle Syed Abul Hossain was removed from the communications ministry in the final week of the last month. Though the government would not admit it Mr. Hossain's removal basically aimed at appeasing the WB. But recent statements coming from the head of the government and the newly appointed communications minister have only compounded the confusion. The statement given by the new communication minister following his meeting with the WB country office chief recently offered an impression that the impasse over the Padma Bridge financing would end soon. But the Prime Minister on her return home at the end of her visits to Myanmar and Indonesia asked the WB to prove its graft allegations involving the Padma Bridge project. She also announced that the Padma Bridge, if needed, would be implemented under the public-private partnership (PPP) initiative. The statement of the Prime Minister implies that her administration has found nothing substantive in the graft allegation and hence onus lies with the Bank to prove its allegation. There should be no reason to raise questions about the PM's request to the WB for it remains the responsibility of the accuser or the prosecution to prove the accused guilty. The government's firm stand on the issue, however, has been partially diluted by the removal of Mr. Hossain from the communications ministry. Now how far is the proposition to build a gigantic infrastructure project such as the Padma Bridge under the PPP feasible? It will be hard to find domestic private investors for the project. Foreign investors might be interested but only on extremely favourable terms. There is no denying that benefits from projects built with soft loans from multilateral lenders are far greater than that of projects receiving funds from private sources, domestic or foreign. The Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge over the river Jamuna is a case in point. The government got enough time to start repayment of the loans that it had received from multilateral donors because of the 10-year long grace period. In the meanwhile, it has earned a substantial amount (on an average Tk 200 million per month) from tolls it levies on different types of vehicles using the Bridge facility. It is expected that both the government and the WB would finally break the impasse over the Padma Bridge project that, if and when implemented, would help lift the economic wellbeing of the southern region of the country. There should be no point in sticking to their respective guns when a project such as the Padma Bridge would spur growth and help poverty alleviation. Zahidmar10@gmail.com