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Padma deal with harder conditions than WB’s to be scrapped: Fakhrul
Reported by: UNBconnect
Reported on: May 15, 2012 08:26 pm
Reported in: National

Dhaka, May 15 (UNB) – BNP acting secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Tuesday said their party, if it gets back to power, will cancel all the agreements on Padma bridge project if it finds the conditions harder than that of the World Bank.“The people of the country will deeply examine the conditions while collecting necessary money for the construction of the Padma bridge project,” he said at a press conference at the BNP central office in the afternoon.The press conference was arranged to brief reporters about the party’s stand on the recent reports in newspapers, various discussions and Word Bank statements over the reported corruption in the Padma bridge project.Fakhrul said: “If BNP finds the conditions harder and more adverse than the proposed conditions of the World Bank for its loan, then BNP will cancel all the related agreements, if it returns to power, in public interest.”He said the cost of the World Bank loan assistance is lower than one percent while it will be close to 6 percent if the fund is collected from other sources.Besides, he said, the construction cost will be more than double if the loan is taken from any country accepting conditions to buy everything from it.“As a result,” Fakhrul said, “The liability of paying the increased cost of construction of the Padma bridge and interest will fall on people which will push the country into a long-term economic crisis.”The BNP acting secretary general said they think that it would be more suitable for the country to construct the Padma bridge with World Bank funding after taking action against the corrupt on the basis of its advice and information.The World Bank, the lead financier, suspended its pledged funding of US$ 1.2bn for Bangladesh's biggest infrastructure project worth $2.9 billion alleging corruption in the project. The Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Islamic Development Bank also froze their funding.

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