Readers Respond

Here are some comments that came in response to Sunday's The Daily Star news report headlined “Let's now help build bridge fast”

Manzoor Ashraf
To ensure full accountability, WB and other lenders must re-tender each part of the project and in view of the worldwide recession, we should expect the overall cost of the bridge to come down substantially as steel price is very low together with other inputs.

Ali
All the talks are to be put behind. And now true progress has to be made by all concerned. No more sleeping on the project that affects everyone in Bangladesh.

Firko
Thanks a lot to WB and ADB. People of Bangladesh have been suffering from corruption for a long time. Although this AL-led government promised to eradicate corruption, they failed to do so. If our government offices completely rid of corruption, there will be no poor people in the country. Please help Bangladesh to be free from corruption so that people can overcome poverty.

M. K. Alam
We expect a speedy implementation of the project under the joint supervision of all donors since we have already lost one year for our own whimsical attitude.

Saleh Md. Shahriar
Cooperation of all the parties is needed first to build the Padma bridge.

Reaz Hassan
All necessary planning should be made by the donor agencies to complete the Padma bridge at the earliest. We believe that the donors- WB, ADB, JICA and IDB- should also oversee its construction from start to finish. I just wonder if they could initiate a savage scheme like the Marshall Plan to help Bangladesh build its poor infrastructure. The G-8 countries having massive command over vast resources should also be involved in the economic development of a small country thickly populated with 160 million souls.

Mahbubur Rahman Sharif
We would earnestly request the WB to start the processing of Padma Bridge construction as soon as possible. Owing to corruption conspiracy, one year has been lost already, which will lengthen the completion time and increase the cost of the project. However, thanks to the co-financiers ADB and JICA for expressing their views requesting WB to quickly start the project.

Nasirullah Mridha, USA
Bureaucratic tangle could hamper the smooth implementation of the bridge project. The lending agencies should start the work as soon as possible and should see that corruption does not take place again in this project.

Raihan
We thank the WB for reviving the loan. Now we need speedy implementation of the project.

Anonymous
We hope our dream of Padma bridge will come true at last.