Padma bridge tolls will outweigh construction cost: finance minister

Bangladesh invested Tk 301.93 billion on the design of the bridge and strategy roadways. Aside from this, the governing administration allotted funds for the construction of railways on the bridge.

Bangladesh was meant to open the bridge to site visitors by Jun 30, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina reported on Wednesday that the opening of the bridge was delayed until eventually the finish of 2022.

“We hope to launch it by the end of this yr as the prime minister reported,” Kamal mentioned on Thursday immediately after a assembly of a cabinet committee.

The conference approved a proposal to appoint a joint undertaking of Korea Expressway Corporation and China Main Bridge Engineering Organization Minimal for a interval of 5 yrs at a value of Tk 6.93 billion for the maintenance of the bridge and toll collection.

Questioned about the possible rate of toll to cross the bridge, Kamal mentioned it was not mounted nevertheless. “You will get to know after it’s fastened.”

“We can say that we need to recuperate the resources expended on this project until eventually the very last working day from the toll, and we will do it,” he claimed. “We are amassing tolls from other assignments. Tolls will be collected from the bridge as nicely. We will not only accumulate tolls, but we will also make a income. We will obtain much more than what we have used on the job.”

“Normally, we cannot move forward. We have to shift from 1 challenge to one more, from just one bridge to one more. We need to have earnings for that.

“This will be a earn-earn condition for both consumers [of the bridge] and the authorities.”

Requested how many a long time it would take to start building a financial gain from the bridge, Kamal stated the authorities did not perform on it in element nonetheless.