BANGLADESH

Communications minister Obaidul Quader said on Sunday the government will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Malaysian government by the third week of this month for building the much coveted Padma Bridge project.

"A memorandum of understanding will be signed with the Malaysian government on Feb 21 if the complexities with The World Bank are not resolved ," he told on Sunday, a day after Malaysia's official Bernama news agency published a news on the issue.

Quoting S Samy Vellu, Malaysia's special envoy to India and South Asia, Bernama said on Saturday that Malaysian government will strike a deal with Bangladesh on Feb 21 for constructing the longest bridge in Bangladesh.

The communications minister said around "80 percent" preparations have been taken to complete the $ 2.9-billion mega-project.

Stating that the government will not put away the project, he said, "It is one of the most important electoral promises of the government. And so, we want to start the work as soon as possible."

Earlier on Jan 31 during a visit to Dhaka, Samy Vellu told the prime minister of his country's interest in assisting Bangladesh to complete the bridge. He also sat with the communications minister.

Bangladesh's biggest infrastructure project ran into trouble after one of the key lenders, The World Bank, raised questions about the bidding process for consultant supervisors.

The government rejected the Bank allegations, dared the Washington-based lender to prove the charges and threatened to find other sources to fund the ambitious project. On Feb 2, the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) said that they found the graft allegations baseless.

According to Bernama around 6.6 billion Malaysian ringgit will be needed in the project. Samy Vellu said the deal would put together a consortium of Malaysian construction companies to complete the task.

Regarding financing this project, he had said the contractor has brought in a financier from Dubai and negotiations are currently going on between them.