Bangladesh: Bangladesh needs another $650 million for country's largest bridge

The Bangladeshi government has sought additional funds worth $650 million from major donors to build the country's largest bridge over the river Padma as the estimated construction cost has escalated from the preliminary calculations, local newspaper The Financial Express reported on Friday.

Initially, the construction cost of the bridge was estimated at1.47 billion U.S. dollars. It has now gone up to $1.8 billion due to price hike of construction materials in the global markets. The World Bank has recently re-examined the cost.

The 5.558 km bridge will be constructed to connect the country's southwest zone with capital Dhaka by 2015 if all the funds were confirmed, the official said.

Four major donors like ADB, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank and Japan had assured of providing 1.15 billion U.S. dollars.

Published by Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting
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