Deal for elevated expressway by June: FM

The finance minister, AMA Muhith, on Wednesday said that the contract for the much talked about Elevated Expressway might be given by this fiscal year (2009-10).
‘One big project is ready under the Public-Private Partnership and there are also some 2-4 projects. The contract for elevated expressway may be given by this fiscal,’ he said after a meeting with a Korean delegation at his Economic Relations Division office.
The expressway will be implemented through ‘Build Operate and Transfer’ system.
The 13-member Korean delegation that met the finance minister included member of National Assembly Lee Jong
Heuk and Korean ambassador to Bangladesh Taiyoung Cho.
Talking to the reporters, the finance minister said that the PPP initiative is on the cards also in power sector. ‘Many want to invest so that the process can go faster.’
He, however, viewed that they didn’t get enough response on PPP in the education and health sector as they had anticipated.
Asked about his recommendation to increase allocation for 38 Ministries and Divisions while placing
the half-yearly progress report on budget implementation in parliament, Muhith said: ‘We did it every year, but the information is not made public. This time we made it public.’
Mentioning that the budget review was made this time a bit earlier than the normal period of April, he said: ‘We should share the information with all… mistakes could be rectified if the review process is made earlier.’
Asked about the outcome of his meeting with the Korean delegation, the Finance Minister said that they would try to strengthen the relations with Korea. ‘The bilateral trade with Korea is not so big and we are also trying to give emphasis in this area.’
He said that in the 1960’s there was not much difference between Korea and Bangladesh, ‘but now they became our development partners and there is many a thing we could learn from them.’
He also hinted to deepen the relationship with Korea as Bangladesh has a significant labour force.
Mentioning that the Korea has developed a lot in planning, budgeting and export, Muhith said that the volume of trade would increase generally if the economic relationship is strengthened.
Replying to another question, he said that prime minister’s official visit to China will focus on economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Courtesy of UNB via NewAgebd