The government on Wednesday floated a tender for the construction of the main infrastructure of the Padma bridge, an official said.
Shahfiqul Islam, the project director of the bridge, confirmed this to The Daily Star over phone.
Five companies had earlier been qualified for the construction of the main structure, the project director added.
The tender process was stalled following the corruption allegations brought by the lead financier of the project, the World Bank (WB).
The WB cancelled its $1.2 billion credit for the Padma bridge project on June 30 last year, saying it has proof of corruption conspiracy involving Bangladeshi officials, executives of a Canadian firm and individuals.
The 6.15km bridge over the Padma river, together with 3.68km of land-based approach viaducts on both sides of the river, will connect the country’s 19 south-western districts with the capital, Dhaka.
The bridge will have road traffic on the upper level and train on the lower level. The main bridge structure will have a dual carriageway, and a provision for future installation of a broad gauge rail line as well as other provisions including provisions for gas and telecommunication lines.
The government has decided to construct the project from its own funds.
The estimated cost of the multipurpose mega project which is expected to be completed in four years is around US$ 2.90 billion, said a tender of the bridge published on Wednesday.
In the mean time, some works of the project has already been commenced and an amount of about Tk 18,454.0 million (equivalent US $ 250.00 million) was spent till the date, the tender said.
An amount of Tk 68,520.0 million (equivalent US $ 878.46 million) has been allocated for the fiscal 2013-14 for the project, keeping sufficient plan for following three years including foreign currency (FC).
Source: The Daily Star
