A Chinese company, incorporated in Australia, is keen to build the Padma bridge with a financing option that look better than that of the traditional multilateral lenders led by the World Bank.
"The company will provide 70 percent of the $2.9 billion required for the project without any interest," a senior official of the Economic Relations Division told the bdnews24.com after reviewing a proposal presented last week.
Asked, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader neither denied nor confirmed the development. "I shall not speak about this Padma bridge project and not go beyond what the Prime Minister has said."
Quader told bdnews24.com: "I can talk about the Second Padma Bridge."
World Bank's $1.2 billion loan bears 0.75 percent service charge while Asian Development Bank would have charged less than one percent for its promised $ 615 million.
"The great thing about the Chinese proposal is it is interest-free, quality would be ensured and the government will not need to spend foreign currency for the project," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official decision to make the offer public.
"The 30 percent of the project cost would be financed by the government in local currency as lots of materials would be procured domestically."
"The company will form a consortium of three companies for main construction, river training and rail link and it would complete the entire work in less than three years," the official said.
In the original project proposal based on which the WB-led donor consortium agreed to fund the project, the bridge construction is supposed to take five years to complete.
The cancellation of the World Bank loan has made the Padma Bridge project uncertain, and the government is desperately looking for other financing options.
The bridge, an election pledge of the Awami League government, will connect Dhaka with 16 south western districts, home to about 60 million people, is estimated to contribute 0.6 per cent to the economy.
Last week, top ERD officials heard senior representatives from the Australia-based company with such details of the proposal as the plan to widen the road to six lanes instead of the originally proposed four lanes.
"It could be a blessing in disguise," the official said.
"In the presentation, we asked the company representatives about ensuring the quality and they said that they wouldn't have any problem if Bangladesh appointed an independent monitoring agency to keep an eye on their work," the official said.
"But the government will have to make separate arrangement for paying the independent body as the cost will not be included in the $2.9 billion that the Chinese are talking about," the official explained.
After the bridge opened to traffic, the government would pay the loan amount in the following 20 years with the earning from the bridge, the official added.
"The company will provide 70 percent of the $2.9 billion required for the project without any interest," a senior official of the Economic Relations Division told the bdnews24.com after reviewing a proposal presented last week.
Asked, Communications Minister Obaidul Quader neither denied nor confirmed the development. "I shall not speak about this Padma bridge project and not go beyond what the Prime Minister has said."
Quader told bdnews24.com: "I can talk about the Second Padma Bridge."
World Bank's $1.2 billion loan bears 0.75 percent service charge while Asian Development Bank would have charged less than one percent for its promised $ 615 million.
"The great thing about the Chinese proposal is it is interest-free, quality would be ensured and the government will not need to spend foreign currency for the project," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because there was no official decision to make the offer public.
"The 30 percent of the project cost would be financed by the government in local currency as lots of materials would be procured domestically."
"The company will form a consortium of three companies for main construction, river training and rail link and it would complete the entire work in less than three years," the official said.
In the original project proposal based on which the WB-led donor consortium agreed to fund the project, the bridge construction is supposed to take five years to complete.
The cancellation of the World Bank loan has made the Padma Bridge project uncertain, and the government is desperately looking for other financing options.
The bridge, an election pledge of the Awami League government, will connect Dhaka with 16 south western districts, home to about 60 million people, is estimated to contribute 0.6 per cent to the economy.
Last week, top ERD officials heard senior representatives from the Australia-based company with such details of the proposal as the plan to widen the road to six lanes instead of the originally proposed four lanes.
"It could be a blessing in disguise," the official said.
"In the presentation, we asked the company representatives about ensuring the quality and they said that they wouldn't have any problem if Bangladesh appointed an independent monitoring agency to keep an eye on their work," the official said.
"But the government will have to make separate arrangement for paying the independent body as the cost will not be included in the $2.9 billion that the Chinese are talking about," the official explained.
After the bridge opened to traffic, the government would pay the loan amount in the following 20 years with the earning from the bridge, the official added.
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