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Bangladesh makes it


Published : 10 Dec 2020 10:54 PM | Updated : 11 Dec 2020 01:08 AM

Yes, Bangladesh can do it. And it has been done with the rock-solid determination of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Official records show she formally laid the foundation stone of Padma Bridge in 2001, but the project was abandoned by Khaleda Zia the same year when the BNP-Jamaat alliance came to power with Khaleda Zia being the prime minister in 2001.

When Sheikh Hasina returned to power with a landslide victory in 2009, the project was revived and the World Bank, ADB, JICA and IDA were requested to provide fund for it. But on the excuse of demanding commission, an allegation proved false in a Canadian court, the World Bank withdrew fund from the project and other donors followed it.

It was beyond anyone’s imagination that the Bangladesh government can make the project a success with its own fund. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has made it possible. The world people knew that when the World Bank withdraws fund from the project, Bangladesh’s Padma Bridge dream would not be materialised. 

And it became really difficult to mobilise funds from the other international sources. No donor agencies came forward with the funds required. Then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina declared that the bridge would be constructed with our own fund. China Major Bridge Engineering Company got the contract and accordingly the construction work started. 

The dream of Padma Multipurpose Bridge has been materialised with the installation of the 41st span yesterday. The main construction work is complete and other work is going on in full swing. The bridge will open for use in March 2022 and by that time the construction of the rail track on the lower deck and road on the upper deck will be completed, bridge division sources said.

The construction company faced tremendous difficulties in installing the pillars, the main support of the bridge. Neither Bangladesh government nor the company concerned had the idea about the nature and fury of the Padma. But the brave Chinese engineers and their skilled workers have made it possible.

With the withdrawal of fund by the World Bank, no other donor agencies came forward with their financial support for such a big project.  Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, expressed her conviction before the people and the party leaders and workers that the bridge would be constructed with our own fund, but some leaders, who are known as so-called intellectuals, gave opinion that withdrawal of the World Bank fund was a discredit to the nation. They were talking about the 0.5 percent rate of interest of the World Bank fund, but the question is when the fund was withdrawn by a political World Bank, the main opposition did not find any usefulness of the bridge. Moreover, opposition leader Khaleda Zia said that the bridge would not be safe as, according to her, the bridge was going to be a patchwork [Jora tali Die Banachchhe).

Sheikh Hasina had to face a monumental opposition from home and abroad for the construction of this mega bridge which has opened up a new hope of development in the south-western region of the country. It was estimated that the Padma Bridge will help create $155 billion investment opportunity in 2030.

A huge enthusiasm is prevailing in the country over the bridge and national and international companies are increasingly showing interest in investing in Bangladesh. There is a big competition in purchasing land in the south-western zone of the country and the price of land has been found increasing as businesspeople from Dhaka and other parts of the country are rushing to the zone.

On the other hand, the country has the opportunity to get involved with the construction of a mega project like Padma Bridge while engineers and workers of Bangladesh, who are working side by side with Chinese engineers and skilled workers, have the opportunity to gather experience in building a mega structure. Any project in future however big will be easier for them.