A Chinese construction company’s chances of building the Padma Multipurpose Bridge, Bangladesh’s biggest infrastructure project so far, have brightened.
China Major Bridge Engineering Company Ltd on Thursday was the only one to submit their financial proposal, said Communications Minister Obaidul Quader.
But he said the Detailed Design Consultant Maunsell AECOM and the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) would scrutinise the proposal before deciding on giving the contract.
The minister told reporters that contractors China Major Bridge Engineering Company, Daelim-L&T JV and Samsung C&T Corporation had taken the tender papers on June 26 last year.
The bidding deadline was extended four times following requests by the last two companies.
After January 9 was fixed as the final date, they had again sought a 12-week extension, said Quader.
After AECOM and the TEC ruled out further delays, Apr 24 was set as the cut-off for submitting the financial proposal, he added.
“A decision has been taken to consider China Major Bridge Engineering Company since it is the only one to submit the bid in time.”
But, he added, it was not yet decided whether they would be the contractors for the mega project.
That will become clear after the scrutiny, he said. “We want to begin the construction by June.”
The bridge construction had hit a wall in 2012 with the World Bank alleging malpractices in the appointment of consultants.
The cost of building the 6.15 km bridge has been estimated at Tk 91.72 billion.
The bridge will link Dhaka and the 21 southern districts by road. The government claims the bridge, when commissioned, will add 1.2 percentage points to the country’s economic growth.
The government last year decided to finance the bridge from its own resources after withdrawing its funding request from the World Bank following a year-long tussle.
Since then Bangladesh had been toying with three foreign options, but sources earlier said the Chinese were clearly ahead of India and Malaysia.
Source: Bd news24