Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said on Sunday that the government had alternative arrangements to implement the Padma Multi-purpose Bridge project after the World Bank (WB) suspended its promised funds, while Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) deferred their loans' effectiveness for it.
"We have other ways," the minister told reporters after being asked whether the government had alternative sources to finance the Padma Bridge project if the pledged funds from major donors including the WB were not disbursed.
He said misunderstandings with donors were nothing new while implementing development projects, saying, "With donors, it is a regular affair."
"Financing was stopped several times during implementation of the Jamuna Bridge on the issue of compensation. But in the case of Padma Bridge, not a single allegation was raised on the compensation issue from donors," AMA Muhith told reporters after a meeting with US Charge d'Affaires in Dhaka Nicholas Dean at his Secretariat office.
He said they have written letters to WB elaborating on every aspect relating to Padma Bridge and the next course of action as far as the role of the government is concerned.
"Let us see what happens," the finance minister told reporters.
He said Dr Muhammad Yunus did not take part in any 'campaign' to prevent foreign aid from coming to Bangladesh.
"There is no negative impact on foreign aid due to Yunus," the minister said.
Responding to a question, the finance minister said they were facing problems in reconstructing 54 subsidiary companies of Grameen Bank (GB) as International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private sector investment arm of WB, has regretted to extend cooperation in the planned restructuring after it was asked by the government.
"IFC has regretted on the ground that they have also investments in the subsidiaries of GB," Muhith said.
"We will appoint a chartered accountancy (CA) firm to audit the 54 subsidiaries," He added.
He said the signing of US-Bangladesh Trade and Economic Cooperation Forum (TECF) deal is taking time due to the unresolved issue concerning labour rights.
"We will soon invite the US authorities to Dhaka for holding discussion on TECF with both the parties (Bangladesh and the US) having their own draft agreements," Mr Muhith told reporters.
"We have our clear opinions on the labour issue to be included in the TECF agreement," he added.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) office has recently conveyed Washington's position on the labour issue to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), it has been learnt.
The conditions set by the USTR on the particular issue are: freedom of association of workers, effective recognition of workers' right to engage in collective bargaining, elimination of child labour and elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
The latest stance of the US came following a proposal of Bangladesh through which the latter urged for inclusion of the words like 'to protect the fundamental labour rights' in the agreement, instead of mentioning the four specific clauses on the issue of labour rights, which the US has refused to accept, a diplomat said.
Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com
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