Govt wants it for Jamuna rail bridge

The government will seek $1.2 billion from the World Bank to build a railway bridge on the Jamuna river -- a fund the global lender had previously committed to the Padma bridge.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith will meet WB President Jim Yong Kim in Washington on February 27 to discuss the possibility of getting the fund to build a separate railway bridge beside the Jamuna multipurpose bridge.
Prime Minister's International Affairs Adviser Gowher Rizvi and Economic Relations Division Secretary Abul Kalam Azad will accompany the finance minister to Washington. They are expected to leave Dhaka on February 24.
A finance ministry official said the other purpose of Muhith's visit would be to keep intact Bangladesh's relations with the WB, Bangladesh's largest development partner, following the snags over the Padma bridge funding.
According to the WB rules, if the global lender cancels a fund in any project, the recipient country can use the fund for any other project.
During his Washington visit, Muhith will hold talks with Kim on which project the fund could be spent, said the official.
The government has been considering setting up a separate railway bridge on the Jamuna river, since no freight train can run on the railway tracks on the Jamuna bridge.
Fresh river training would not be required for the new bridge, as river training had already been done during Jamuna bridge's construction, said the official.
If the government gets a positive signal from the WB on financing of the bridge, it will start formal talks with the global lender on the utilisation of the fund, he said.
The WB committed $1.2 billion to the Padma bridge project but cancelled it in June last year over corruption allegations.
In September last year, the global lender agreed to re-engage in the project provided that the Bangladesh government met some conditions. But the government in January withdrew its request to the WB for the bridge loan.