$200m Indian grant to be mobilised, says Muhith

Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Thursday that an Indian grant of US$200 million will be mobilised for construction of the Padma bridge in the upcoming fiscal.

He mentioned this while proposing an allocation of Tk 6,852 crore in his budget speech for the 2013-14 fiscal at the parliament.

Funding for the bridge also will come from local sources, along with possible funding from Islamic Development Bank and a few other development partners, he added.

“I mentioned earlier that the project implementation schedule that we made for the construction of Padma bridge did not match with that of the World Bank."

The government has initiated the preliminary work with its own funds to avoid delay in the implementation process, Muhith said.

“Work on approach road and river training has already begun at Mawa and Janjira of the proposed project,” he added.

He expressed hope that the government would be able to start construction works of the main bridge and river training-related works within its tenure.

“I urge upon all the citizens including our diaspora to come forward and join hands in implementing this grand initiative,” he further said.