Plans to quicken Padma bridge bidding process hit hurdles
Monday, 8 February 2010
Munima Sultana
The government's plan to speed up the bidding process of the Padma bridge hits snags Sunday after the donors demanded resolving resettlement, land acquisition and environmental issues before inviting tender.
Three key ministers held talks with major donors at the planning ministry in an effort to get donors nod to invite pre-qualification tender for the proposed US$2.4 billion project this month.
But sources in the meeting said donors who have agreed to fully fund the project raised concerns over non-completion of resettlement of thousands of affected people and environmental impact assessment of the giant infrastructure.
"They have urged the government to complete land acquisition, resettle all the people to be affected by the bridge and finish environmental assessment," said a meeting insider.
They (donors) said it would be premature on the part of the government to go ahead and start the bidding process without settling these key issues that could eventually delay construction, he added.
Finance minister AMA Muhith chaired the meeting where the communications minister, the planning minister, and the Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary and local chiefs of top donor agencies attended.
Communications minister Syed Abul Hossain told the FE that the government 'took into consideration' the concerns raised by the donors.
"We have told them that all the issues would be resolved in time and ahead of the construction of the bridge," he said.
Hossain said they would still prefer to launch the tender process this month despite the donors' qualms.
"We have completed all preparations to invite pre-qualification tender later this month. We hope the donors would now assess them and give us a quick feedback. But there is no way we will delay the construction," he added.
The pre-qualification tender is the first step towards selecting the companies that would build the 6.15 kilometre mega bridge - set to be the largest infrastructure project in the country.
The minister admitted that some differences have cropped up over settlement and environmental issues but he hoped that these would be ironed out very soon.
"Donors have distinctive procurement rules which they need to resolve through meetings," the minister said.
ERD Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan termed the meeting "very fruitful".
"I don't think there is any dispute over implementation of the project," he said adding that the donor agencies would hold a meeting of their own shortly to 'harmonise' the issues.
The government has said it would start the construction of the bridge at Mawa-Jajira point in the October this year and would complete work by 2013.
The bridge is the top priority project of the Awami League led government and it has so far secured assurances from major donors for full funding of the country's costliest infrastructure.
Cost of the project has scaled up from $ 1.8 billion to $ 2.4 billion due to the government's decision to construct a two-tier bridge with steel-truss-composite and separate approach roads for rail and road.
The government's plan to speed up the bidding process of the Padma bridge hits snags Sunday after the donors demanded resolving resettlement, land acquisition and environmental issues before inviting tender.
Three key ministers held talks with major donors at the planning ministry in an effort to get donors nod to invite pre-qualification tender for the proposed US$2.4 billion project this month.
But sources in the meeting said donors who have agreed to fully fund the project raised concerns over non-completion of resettlement of thousands of affected people and environmental impact assessment of the giant infrastructure.
"They have urged the government to complete land acquisition, resettle all the people to be affected by the bridge and finish environmental assessment," said a meeting insider.
They (donors) said it would be premature on the part of the government to go ahead and start the bidding process without settling these key issues that could eventually delay construction, he added.
Finance minister AMA Muhith chaired the meeting where the communications minister, the planning minister, and the Economic Relations Division (ERD) secretary and local chiefs of top donor agencies attended.
Communications minister Syed Abul Hossain told the FE that the government 'took into consideration' the concerns raised by the donors.
"We have told them that all the issues would be resolved in time and ahead of the construction of the bridge," he said.
Hossain said they would still prefer to launch the tender process this month despite the donors' qualms.
"We have completed all preparations to invite pre-qualification tender later this month. We hope the donors would now assess them and give us a quick feedback. But there is no way we will delay the construction," he added.
The pre-qualification tender is the first step towards selecting the companies that would build the 6.15 kilometre mega bridge - set to be the largest infrastructure project in the country.
The minister admitted that some differences have cropped up over settlement and environmental issues but he hoped that these would be ironed out very soon.
"Donors have distinctive procurement rules which they need to resolve through meetings," the minister said.
ERD Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan termed the meeting "very fruitful".
"I don't think there is any dispute over implementation of the project," he said adding that the donor agencies would hold a meeting of their own shortly to 'harmonise' the issues.
The government has said it would start the construction of the bridge at Mawa-Jajira point in the October this year and would complete work by 2013.
The bridge is the top priority project of the Awami League led government and it has so far secured assurances from major donors for full funding of the country's costliest infrastructure.
Cost of the project has scaled up from $ 1.8 billion to $ 2.4 billion due to the government's decision to construct a two-tier bridge with steel-truss-composite and separate approach roads for rail and road.