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PM-TUNNEL-SPEECH 3 CHATTOGRAM
The prime minister said: “The road transport and bridges minister had much anguish against me as I rejected his proposal for naming the bridge after me.”
Highlighting the background of construction of the bridge, Sheikh Hasina said her previous government in 2001 laid the foundation of the bridge after carrying out its feasibility study.
But after coming to power, she said, the BNP-Jamaat government stopped the work of the bridge and changed its alignment. “They wasted the time saying that the bridge will be constructed at another place instead of the present one,” she said.
The prime minister said after assuming office again in 2009, her government took initiatives for building the bridge again and everybody expressed interest and came forward to help construct the bridge.
“The World Bank, the ADB and others showed eagerness to give financial assistance in this regard,” she said, adding the World Bank (WB) showed the most interest.
She said but suddenly the WB brought allegation that corruption took place in the project. “My question was (at that time) that where the graft happened as not a single taka was released till then,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said the WB did not give reply of her question. Then the WB said that conspiracy of graft took place, she mentioned.
The prime minister said she had challenged the WB to prove that whether any corruption happened. “At that time the WB launched carrying out false propaganda … their some integrity officers used to come to Bangladesh and conduct false propaganda,” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said: “I did not stop for that propaganda and challenged the WB that they will have to prove the allegation. Otherwise we’ll not take your money and we will construct the bridge with our money, if can. But the WB did not like my challenge.”
The prime minister said she then asked adviser Dr Moshiur Rahman to send a letter to the WB asking them to prove their allegation. “But despite sending letters repeatedly to the WB couldn’t give any reply,” she said.
In this connection, Sheikh Hasina mentioned, that the WB vice-president visited Bangladesh sometimes with an officer at that time.
“I also asked the WB vice president to prove where the graft took place? and due to our pressure, they sent a letter containing the allegation of graft in two projects that occurred in 2002 during the BNP-Jamaat regime,” she said, adding the schemes were Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway Project and Siddirganj Power Plant.
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