Finance minister AMA Muhith on Monday said the long-overdue financial reporting act would be placed in the next session of parliament for passage of the bill to release US$ 150 million loan from Asian Development Bank. ‘It is essential to enact the act,’ he told reporters after a meeting with visiting director General of South Asia Department of the Asian Development Bank Juan Miranda.
ADB has attached conditions to disburse US$ 150 million loan to the Capital Market Development Programme II. The Manila-based multilateral agency wanted the government to pass the ‘financial reporting act’ in parliament by this April.
Muhith earlier stated that the financial reporting act-2013, which would ensure transparent audit report, could not be passed in parliament ‘due to time constraints’. But many suspected that it could not be enacted due to opposition from the ruling party insiders and intense lobbying by chartered accountants and their associations.
Juan Miranda said they wanted to see speedy implementation of the ADB-funded projects. Besides, he discussed issues like share market reform, construction of the Padma Bridge and the Sonadia deep sea port, he said.
Mirnda said the much-talked about Padma Bridge would be built, no matter how it would be funded. The funding is irrelevant, he said.
Muhith said he had reiterated the government’s position to bear the cost of the bridge at the meeting with the ADB officials. He said the ADB officials assured of technical assistance in construction of the bridge.
But it was reported that the ADB had expressed reservation on providing technical assistance for the bridge project last February.
Muhith had sought technical assistance in October 2013 since the government decided to implement the proposed multi-billion dollar project with its own finance after the World Bank and the ADB suspended their credit programmes for the bridge project.
WB was first to suspend its US$ 1.2 billion credit programme citing ‘conspiracy of corruption’ in the tender process in 2012. ADB and Japan International Cooperation Agency followed the WB and suspended credits worth around US$ 1 billion for the project.
-With New Age input
