Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said there was an international conspiracy against the funding of the much-hyped Padma Bridge project. “We have been the victim of an international conspiracy regarding the Padma Bridge,” she said while delivering her introductory speech in a views-exchange meeting with the administrators of 61 districts at her official residence Ganobhaban.
During the 1996-2001 tenure, she said, her previous government had started the process to construct the Padma Bridge and then it was shelved during the BNP-Jamaat regime. “When we returned to power this time, we restarted the project, and the World Bank on its own came forward to fund it,” she said.
Hasina mentioned that when the construction process of the Bridge was going on, the World Bank at that time cancelled its funding alleging that there was corruption in the project. “When we challenged their allegation, at that time they said that there was a conspiracy of corruption,” the premier pointed out.
Hasina said the World Bank cancelled the funding although they could not prove the ‘conspiracy of corruption’. In this connection, she said the World Bank had cancelled all of its funding in the communications and power sectors during the BNP-Jamaat regime. “When we assumed office, they started funding again,” she said. The Prime Minister also expressed her firm stance that the government would never accept that allegation in which it is not involved.
She said when the World Bank had cancelled its funding, the government decided to construct the bridge with its own resources in the greater interest of people, especially for those of the southern region. “We’ve already floated the tender, the related works of the bridge have started, and we’re not sitting idle,” Hasina she said voicing her firm resolve that the bridge would be constructed for the welfare of people and it was the aim of her government.
Referring to the opposition leader’s claim to construct two bridges over the Padma River if voted to power, the Prime Minister said that Khaleda Zia was in power twice. “How many bridges you (Khaleda) constructed?” she asked. – UNB
