Finance minister AMA Muhith on Thursday said that the proposal from a Chinese firm for building Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) was not acceptable as it wanted to appoint a fixed contractor. “As there are allegations of corruption against the PMB project, we can’t accept the proposal of a fixed contractor,” he added. He was talking to reporters about the proposals made by Chinese company Poly Technology, after a meeting with the Indian high commissioner in Dhaka, Pankaj Saran, and Russian ambassador Alexander Mikolaev, at his office.Communication minister Obaidul Quader on Tuesday said that the Chinese state-owned company Poly Technologies had proposed to invest USD 2.4 billion in the PMB project.A four-member delegation, led by Yang Biao, assistant president of the Exim Bank of China, had given the proposal to communications minister Obaidul Quader during a meeting held at his Secretariat office on Tuesday.The government has already floated the international tender for the project after it withdrew the World Bank funding request following an impasse over graft allegations.
The finance minister said, “I have seen two proposals given by Russia and China, but both are not acceptable as we have floated an international tender.”He further said that the government would not consider any proposal that would mention fixed contractors.There is no scope to raise questions about regularities in the PMB project in the international tender process, he added.Earlier, the Indian high commissioner handed over its third instalment of USD 50 million to Bangladesh as part of its commitment of USD 200-million grant, out of its USD 1 billion Indian Line of Credit (LoC) to Bangladesh.With the third instalment, India has provided USD 150 million to Bangladesh, which will be utilised for the PMB project.During his visit last year, the then India finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had said that India would provide USD 1 billion as LoC as per an agreement signed earlier for implementing Bangladesh’s priority projects.Talking to reporters after the meeting, Indian high commissioner Pankaj Saran said, “We have now completed the disbursement of USD 150-million as part of the USD 200-million grant to Bangladesh government.”“We discussed the present status of the Indian LoC and I urged the communications minister to expedite the implementation of the projects under the Indian LoC,” he added. Replying to questions on an Indian firm reportedly going to be partner of a Bangladeshi company in setting up a river port in Naraynganj, Saran said, “The issue did not come up for discussion. There is no decision yet, it is only an offer.”
He also said it was up to the Bangladesh government to decide the projects for using the USD 200-million grants from India.Replying to another question, Saran said there was no discussion on any political issue in the meeting. “It was basically a meeting to discuss bilateral trade and investment.”
-With The Independent input
