The government has kept the door open for the World Bank to take part in the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project if it chooses to do so.
Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has said the World Bank can get involved again if it wishes to against the backdrop of its changed position on the mega project.
The minister said this in a meeting with the World Bank Country Director Johannes Zutt on Tuesday.
Muhith told reporters: “I had said before and saying now too that they (World Bank) should have combated corruption remaining involved in the Padma project. But they have wasted our two-year time by not doing that.”
He said if the World Bank wanted, to be involved with the project again now.
Asked about the present position of the global lending agency regarding the project, Zutt said the World Bank should not back out from Bangladesh.
He said: “If (we) discover incidence of corruption in Bangladesh as in any other country in the world, we should not cease to engage with that country to help it to address its development problems, but we should engage differently.”
Zutt said the World Bank should help the government to understand what was driving ‘these type of corrupt practices’ to deal with them in a professional way.
Source: Bd news24
