Finance Minister AMA Muhith said on Sunday that the US$200 million Indian grants will be spent for construction of Padma Bridge.
“We have decided all of it (200 million) will be used for Padma bridge purpose,” Muhith told reporters emerging from his call on with visiting Indian President Pranab Mukherjee at Sonargaon Hotel yesterday afternoon.
The finance minister said that India has already handed over $50 million and the Indian president informed him that another $50 million would arrive next month.
Muhith said that Indian President wanted to be assured how the Padma Bridge could be self financed.
“I told him that when I took the office, the development budget of the country was Tk 19,000 crore. This year, it will likely to be almost Tk 55,000 crore,” he said, adding that Tk 5,000 crore out of the $2.9 billion would be spent this year.
Source: The Daily Star