Bangladesh inks Padma bridge project agreement with China; India worried?

Dhaka, Nov 11: The Bangladesh government on Monday signed an agreement with Sinohydro, a Chinese state-owned hydropower engineering and construction company, for the river training works of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project.

The project is worth 8,707.81 crore Bangladeshi Taka.

The agreement was inked by Padma Bridge project director Shafiqul Islam and Sinohydro's deputy chief engineer Iyu Liushan. The agreement was made at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the national capital. The duration of the agreement is 48 months.

Bangladesh's Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader was present on the occasion.

The Sino-Bangladeshi agreement on a water project could generate some concern in New Delhi, with which Dhaka shares a not-so-happy relation over the sharing of the Teesta River. Will the political hindrances on the way of India-Bangladesh bilateral relations push Dhaka more towards Bejing?

It can also be mentioned here that in June 2013, Bangladesh told the world that it was no more a basket case as it was once said. Within three months of withdrawing the request of funding from the World Bank, Bangladesh allocated 68.52 billion Bangladeshi Taka for the 6.15 kilometre long bridge on the Padma River, the biggest-ever project that the small South Asian country took up with its own resources.

Oneindia News