KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 – Malaysia looks set to ink a deal with Bangladesh by month-end to construct the RM6.6 billion Padma Bridge, the country’s largest infrastructure project that ran into controversy last year when the World Bank suspended its funding over suspected corruption in the bidding process.
Special envoy to India and South Asia, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu (picture), told Bernama in an interview that Dhaka will ink a government-to-government (G2G) memorandum of understanding (MoU) later this month which will see a consortium of Malaysian construction companies formed to take up the job.
“Bangladesh has seen our success in building bridges such as the first and second Penang Bridge. (Bangladeshi) Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requested us to look at the proposed bridge.
“We did a due diligence for the past one month and finally, with the consent of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, we told the Bangladesh government we are ready to build the bridge,” Samy Vellu told the state news agency in the interview.
He said that several big names in the Malaysian construction industry as well as government-linked companies (GLC) are expected to join the consortium, which will be monitored by the Prime Minister’s Department through his office.
“The contractor has brought in a financier from Dubai. Serious negotiations are currently going on between them. The Malaysian and Bangladeshi governments have no say in identifying and deciding on the financier.
“This bridge will be a very important project for Malaysia as it will prove to the world that this country (Malaysia) has the ability to do anything on earth, especially in the infrastructure segment,” Samy Vellu said.
He added that details of the project time frame will only be decided once the G2G agreement is sealed on February 21.
The World Bank suspended its RM3.8 billion funding for the Padma Bridge on October 10 after Canadian police opened investigations against Canadian firm SNC Lavalin Group Inc — one of five shortlisted consultant supervisors for the project — on corruption charges.
Following the probe, the World Bank shared other allegations concerning corruption in the bidding process for the bridge with the Bangladeshi government.
The World Bank has yet to provide any information on the case of SNC Lavalin which withdrew from the bridge project last week.
The Bangladeshi government has denied all allegations of corruption.
The Padma Bridge, a priority project of the Hasina administration, will connect Bangladesh’s southern region with the rest of the country and is expected to add two per cent to Bangladesh’s GDP.
The Bangladeshi government has signed deals of US$1.2 billion (RM3.7 billion) with the World Bank, US$615 million with Asian Development Bank, US$400 million with the Japan International Co-operation Agency and US$140 million with the Islamic Development Bank.
The bridge, with 3.7km of land-based approach viaducts on both sides of the river, will connect 19 southwestern districts and Dhaka, enhancing their access to markets, improving services and accelerating growth.
The bridge will reduce distances to Dhaka by about 100km and halve travel times from most areas in the southwest. It will also enhance regional trade by linking with the Asian Highway and Trans-Asian railway network systems.
