Dhaka Bureau: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has accepted more than Tk 315 crore of the fifth and sixth installments of the loan taken for the construction of the Padma Bridge. Earlier on June 19, the bridge department paid more than Tk 316 crore for the third and fourth installments.
The Prime Minister’s Press Secretary, Ihsanul Karim, said in a briefing on Monday that Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader handed over a check for Tk 315,07,53,442 to the Prime Minister as the 5th and 6th installments of the loan for the Padma Bridge.
So far, the bridge department has paid a total of Tk 948,01,19,585 to the government in six installments.
Prime Minister’s Ambassador-at-Large M. Ziauddin, the Prime Minister’s Chief Secretary, and Md. Tofazzel Hossain Mia, Secretary of the Finance Department. Md. Khairuzzaman Majumdar, Bridges Department Secretary M. Manjur Hossain, and senior officials of the Prime Minister’s Office and Bridges and Finance Departments were present.
On April 5, the bridge department started repaying the debt by paying Tk 316,90,97,050 as the first and second installments from the revenue earned through toll collection from the bridge.
This Padma Bridge has been built at a cost of 32,605 crores with our own funding.
On June 19, this year, the bridge department paid Tk 316,02,69093 for the third and fourth installments.
A low-interest loan was taken from Bangladesh Bank under the agreement signed between the Finance Department and Bangladesh Bridge Authority for the construction of the bridge.
On June 25, 2022, Sheikh Hasina inaugurated this 6.15-kilometer-long bridge, the largest in the country, built on the Pramatta Padma river.
