FHM Humayan Kabir:

The government has extended time until December 2019 for completing the Padma Bridge construction work, officials said on Friday.

"Since the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) has failed to complete building the bridge within the stipulated time, we've extended its completion schedule by one year more," said a senior Planning Commission official.

According to the current schedule, the Tk 301.93 billion Padma Bridge project was scheduled to be completed by December 2018.

After request from the Authority, the Commission last month extended the project implementation time, the Commission official told the FE.

Meanwhile, the Bridges Authority has sought lower allocation in the upcoming revised Annual Development Programme (ADP) budget for the country's top priority, large project due to its slow progress, officials said.

The Authority sought Tk 26.56 billion allocation, 40 per cent down from that of Tk 43.95 billion in the original ADP.

According to the BBA, it has been able to spend only 59.3 per cent of the total cost of the project until December last.

The Commission official said if the bridge authority wants to complete the project by December this year, it has to utilise the remaining Tk 122.90 billion unspent fund.

The remaining funds are more than four and a half times higher than the proposed allocation of Tk 26.56 billion in the upcoming revised ADP and nearly three times higher than the current original ADP allocation of Tk 43.96 billion.

Another Commission official said, "I think it is difficult to complete the 6.15 km bridge construction work by December as it has to execute the remaining 40 per cent of the work."

"The fund spending trend over the last couple of years is also reported to be poor. In the last two fiscals, its fund requirement in the ADP and revised ADP had dropped," he added.

In the current fiscal's original ADP, the Authority demanded Tk 43.96 billion, lower than Tk 47.03 billion outlay in the revised ADP of FY2018.

In FY2017, the government allocated Tk 60.26 billion funds in the original ADP to carry out the construction work.

The Chinese company -- China Major Bridge Engineering -- is working to construct the country's longest bridge.

The government had also given work order to another Chinese company Sino-Hydro for the river training work of the bridge project.

Besides, the government appointed Bangladeshi Abdul Monem Ltd and its joint-venture Malaysian company for building the approach roads on both the sides of the Padma Bridge.