Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said Bangladesh has given an apt reply to conspirators through the construction of Padma Bridge with its own resources.

The Padma bridge project will give a boost to local steel, cement, stone and sand industries as the biggest-ever infrastructure project of the country will source many of the construction materials locally.

The construction work of Padma Multipurpose Bridge seems to be going on at a good pace. About 16 percent of the infrastructure work of the project, including approach roads, rehabilitation and development of the project area, is complete, according to ministry data.

The government has decided to build a new cantonment at the Padma Bridge project site and the army has sought Tk 1,774 crore over four years to build the security installations for the bridge.

The government yesterday entered a Tk 383.15 crore deal with a joint venture of six companies for the supervision consultancy job of the Padma bridge project.

The deal was signed between Bridge Division under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges and Korean Expressway group comprising seven companies at Bridge Bhaban at Mohakhali in Dhaka.

A Dhaka court today acquitted all the seven government officials including former bridges division secretary Mosharraf Hossain who were accused of corruption in the Padma bridge project, 53 days after Anti-Corruption Commission cleared them of the graft charges.

After the much-publicised Padma bridge episode, the World Bank has now realigned its approach to tackling corruption in projects.

Bangladesh ranked 16th from the bottom in this year's graft index, released globally by Transparency International yesterday. It scored 27 points out of 100, one point higher than the last year when it became 13th in the corruption perception index. Chairperson of the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) trustee board, Sultana Kamal termed the slight change in Bangladesh's position insignificant as the country's position still remains quite low. Quoting the report, TIB executive director Dr Iftekharuzzaman said grand corruption incidents in the stockmarket, Padma bridge project, Hall Mark, Destiny, railway and Rana Plaza collapse significantly overshadowed Bangladesh's profile this year.

The communications ministry’s Bridges Division on Monday signed a Tk 133.49 crore contract with Bangladesh Army for supervision consultancy work of two approach roads and two service areas of the Padma bridge.

If the erosion, now taking place along South Medini Mandal village, goes on, the design of the bridge would have to be partially altered.

COMMUNICATIONS Minister Obaidul Quader's comment on Finance Minister AMA Muhith's position being “unrealistic” and “obstructionist” on Chinese and Russian proposals has taken us by surprise. More so, when Quader makes a value judgment on the finance minister's stance indirectly blaming him for the delay in starting construction of Padma Bridge.

The government yesterday finally floated tender for construction of the main bridge of the Padma project. Finance Minister AMA Muhith, however, said he was not sure if the work order could be issued by December. In advertisements published in today's newspapers, five pre-qualified firms have been asked to submit bids by September 9. Besides placing ads in national dailies, Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) has posted the tender on its website.

The government on Wednesday floated a tender for the construction of the main infrastructure of the Padma bridge, an official said.

The cases are so blatant and glaring. Syed Abul Hossain, Suranjit Sengupta, Dr Moshiur Rahman, Modasser Ali. The list goes on. In dealing with each of these cases, the government's actions seemed inexplicable. Hardly anybody, including the top AL leaders, could explain why certain actions were taken or not taken.

The World Bank will indirectly help Bangladesh in constructing the Padma bridge though it has withdrawn its fund over an allegation of corruption conspiracy, as the project is very important for the economy. "We will continue to help the government to get that project done if that is where it indicates its priorities to be," said Johannes Zutt, WB country director for Bangladesh and Nepal, at a media briefing on the assessment of the 2013-14 budget at his office in the capital.

In its final report, the World Bank's external panel has mentioned only the name of ex-communications minister Syed Abul Hossain as a high-profile corruption suspect in the Padma bridge project. The panel expressed dissatisfaction at Abul's exclusion from the First Information Report filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, and said the ACC was not probing the Padma bridge corruption allegations in a free and fair manner.

The World Bank on Tuesday handed over to the government its final probe report into the corruption conspiracy in the Padma bridge project.

The Padma bridge project is set to get Tk 5,291 crore, the highest allocation in a single project, in the next fiscal year's budget although uncertainty remains over the utilisation of the fund.

The finance minister, in a pre-budget meeting with the Economic Reporters Forum (ERF), spelled out the financing plan for the Financial Year (FY) 2013-14 to 2016-17 of the 6.15 km Padma Bridge, totaling Tk.221.79 billion, from internal resources.