“I’m 100 percent certain there has been no corruption so far and there won’t be any (corruption)…of course I’m making it sure to the people of Bangladesh,” he told journalists at IFAD headquarters here on Thursday.
Earlier, he had a brief discussion with 23 journalists from developing and developed countries, including Bangladesh, who are in Rome to attend a training workshop arranged by the Reuters, IFAD and IPS jointly.
Fisheries and Livestock Secretary Ujjwal Bikash Dutta and Deputy Secretary, Economic Relations Division, Ministry of Finance Sultana Afroz, trainers from Reuters and IPS, including the IFAD officials, were also present.
Responding to a question, Muhith said there are many alternative proposals. “But I’m against them…those proposals are tied to procurement…it’ll be done from the budget. The budget in the last four years has doubled.”
The Finance Minister, however, said it would cause hardship if the bridge is built with own funding. “…no doubt about that.”
Replying to a question, Muhith said Bangladesh can surely afford the bridge without the World Bank funding but the cost will be more. “If I get into crore figure, Padma Bridge is a project of Tk 25,000 crore. Providing Tk 5,000 crore each year for the bridge is not a serious problem. I’m concerned a little bit about foreign exchange.”
The Finance Minister said the government is launching the first sovereign bond in April, not for the Padma Bridge but for the general economy.
Responding to another query, Muhith said Padma Bridge is the most difficult and complex bridge in the world not for by length but for the soil of Bangladesh and its mighty river. “….that is where the World Bank would have been very helpful for me.”
On the global lender’s dissatisfaction, he said World Bank’s methods of procedures are wrong. “We investigated 61 parties…there was no evidence of corruption…we’ll carry out the investigation…we’re not dishonest.”
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