Padma Bridge WB-strung
Although as the lead financier the World Bank has stalled the whole tender process of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project last month alleging corruption of a Canadian company, the bank has not yet informed the government about the exact nature of the irregularity.
WB alleged that Canadian company SNC-Lavalin was involved in corruption in a bid to get the job of supervising the construction of the main bridge. The supervision will cost around US $50 million. The bridge project outlines a $2.97 billion total cost.
SNC-Lavalin is yet to win the contract. In June, the project's tender evaluation committee recommended awarding the supervision job to Lavalin as the lowest qualified bidder, and sought WB's concurrence.
Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury heads the five-member committee. One of the members, Dr Daud Ahmad, is a former high official of WB and an international consultant. WB sought several clarifications that the committee produced.
But lately WB has been stalling the tender process by bringing an allegation of corruption. Apparently the allegation was made by an anonymous complainant, said government officials adding that usually anonymous complaints are not taken seriously in corporate culture.
An official of WB's country office in Dhaka said the bank acknowledges all complaints, but does not pursue all of them. "An initial screening is also done before any investigation of an allegation."
Asked why the bank would suspend the whole tender process when Lavalin was not even awarded the job, the WB official said this is nothing unusual as the company is one of the five qualified for the bid.
A government source said Lavalin's quoted price was around Tk 80 crore higher than the "lowest" British bidder Helcrow. The anonymous complainant emphasised on this information. But the tender committee recommended that the job be given to Lavalin as Helcrow's set of experts did not fulfil the experience criterion.
Prof Jamilur Reza defends the committee's evaluation saying, "There is no weakness in our evaluation report. We have tried to carry out both technical and financial evaluations fairly. We have also verified experience certificates of all the companies."
A Tec member wishing anonymity told The Daily Star that the allegation against Lavalin has nothing to do with the evaluation report. "None of the financiers has any complaint about our evaluation," he said adding that the financiers are somehow not happy with the way the government is handling the Padma bridge project.
To keep the momentum of the project, the government even told WB that the country would like to go ahead without the company or companies accused of corruption, and therefore the bank may formally name the companies allegedly involved in irregularities. The bank has not yet responded to this request.
This is not the first time WB disrupted the project's tender process. The priority project is being delayed due to frequent intervention by and excessive bureaucracy in WB.
The bank took a year since July last year to clear a set of pre-qualified bidders for the main bridge construction.
The delay of the first six months was because the bank forced the government to go for a second pre-qualification bidding on the plea of a minor modification in the main bridge's design.
Another six months went by because the bank insisted that the government qualifies a disqualified Chinese company. After repeated scrutiny of that bidder by Tec, the bank cleared a list of five pre-qualified companies in July this year.
But since then the bank has refrained from clearing the bid document for the main bridge construction. The document was first sent to WB in October last year and then again on June 1 this year. WB was supposed to clear the document in two weeks, so that it could be distributed among the five pre-qualified bidders.
Meanwhile, the other important components of the project like $1,200 million main bridge construction, $700 million river training, and $40 million Mawa approach road construction were also delayed, and have been pending for WB's approval. The government sought WB clearance for the tender for river training back in December last year, and for the main bridge construction bid document in March this year.
"WB is taking a long time to give approval to these components against which there is no complaint," regretted a Bridges Division official.
WB Vice-president Isabel M Guerrero flew to Dhaka on September 12 to inform the government about their position on the alleged corruption in the bridge project. She reportedly told Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that they would inform her about the details of the matter later.
"Usually the World Bank seeks clarifications if there is any allegation of irregularity or corruption. But this time we are totally in the dark as they said nothing beforehand," a high official of the government told The Daily Star.
The government already spent Tk 1,036 crore for the purpose of land acquisition, resettlement, compensation, setting up a service area, and preparing the design of the bridge.
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain said both local and international experts have been engaged in the project to maintain transparency. He also said everything was being done strictly following the guidelines of the donors.
"We don't want to make any further delay in the Padma Bridge project. We want to start construction in January if the World Bank clears the bid document of the main bridge construction without delay," he told The Daily Star.
Asked about the corruption allegation, the minister said, "It's up to the World Bank. We are waiting for their decision."
The 6.15km bridge over the Padma river, together with 3.68km of land-based approach viaducts on both sides of the river, will connect the country's 19 south-western districts with the capital.
The bridge will have road traffic on the upper level and train on the lower level. The main bridge structure will have a dual carriageway, and a provision for future installation of a broad gauge rail line as well as other provisions including provisions for gas and telecommunication lines.
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