Govt to earn Tk 693cr from Padma Bridge toll operator

The government is expected to award Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) for collecting tolls of Padma Multipurpose Bridge for a period of 5 years after commissioning of the facility.

An official of Bangladesh Bridge Authority under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Bridges, said the government will earn a revenue worth Tk 692.92 crore from the Padma Bridge turnpike booths.

Cabinet secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam on Wednesday said inauguration of bridge runs late because of import disruptions of some machinery from European Union countries amid Covid-19 pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war.

The cabinet secretary came up with the explanation after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had told the parliament on Wednesday that the bridge would open to traffic at the end of this year.

The Road, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader reiterated on April 3 that the Padma bridge was scheduled to be inaugurated by June this year and would be opened to vehicular movement by June 2023.

Amid such uncertainties, the  proposal of direct appointment of toll booths’ operator by Bangladesh Bridge Authority is being placed before the cabinet committee on public purchase on Thursday, officials said.

According to the BBA proposal, the Padma Multipurpose Bridge construction project being implemented by the Bangladesh Bridge Authority is one of the largest road infrastructure projects in the country. There have been dreams and challenges surrounding this bridge’s construction. Since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced the construction of the bridge with Bangladesh’s own funds, various domestic and foreign conspiracies have allegedly been brewing.

But in the end, 96.50 percent of the physical work of the bridge has been completed. Once the construction is done, a toll plaza operator will be required for the operation, maintenance and collection of tolls, the proposal said.

A letter was sent to the Economic Relations Division through the Korean Embassy in Dhaka requesting South Korea’s state-owned Korea Expressway Corporation to be the service provider for the operation, maintenance and collection of tolls at the Padma Bridge. The memo said at the request of the Economic Relations Division, the bridge authority has verified the efficiency and experience of KC’s bridge maintenance background. And then a proposal to appoint a service provider on a G-to-G basis under the direct procurement procedure was conveyed to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for policy approval.

At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs held on 12 August 2020, the proposal of the bridge department to appoint a service provider on G-to-G basis was approved in principle.

During the verification by the technical committee, KEC signed a joint venture agreement with China Major Bridge Engineering Company Limited (MBEC), the construction contractor of the Padma Bridge, to facilitate the maintenance of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge.

According to the proposal, the technical committee evaluated the joint technical proposal of KC-MBEC JV and submitted its report to the authorities on 19 August, 2021. On the basis of that report, the proposing company KEC submitted the revised technical and financial proposal on October 21, 2021, and the proposal was again sent to the technical committee for evaluation. On the basis of the evaluation report of the technical committee, the G-to-G committee submitted the report on March 15, 2022 after concluding the negotiations with the proposer KC.