World Bank Grant and Loan to Bangladesh for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project

February 22, 2010

U.S. Position

Bangladeshi geography presents the country with numerous transportation challenges impeding 

economic development and poverty reduction. The proposal before us to construct the first 

fixed crossing over the Padma River, linking for the first time southwestern Bangladesh to the 

rest of the country, will help remove a major transportation obstacle to development. The United 

States welcomes this operation as part of Bangladesh’s goals of inclusive growth and reducing 

poverty and exclusion, thanks Bank staff for their proactive bilateral engagement, and supports

this project. 

The United States appreciates the enormity of this endeavor. Successful implementation of this 

project will require much greater resources, closer monitoring and a stronger commitment to 

donor coordination than was the case in the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge project in Bangladesh 

nearly 20 years ago. We support the World Bank’s lead financier role in the project and trust 

that the Bank can deliver a technically complex and challenging operation in an environment 

where institutions have relatively low capacity and governance is weak. With this in mind, the 

United States would like to highlight the following points:

1. Joint Co-financing Arrangements: The United States is concerned that the Asian 

Development Bank and World Bank project documents provide for different 

requirements with respect to procurement guidelines and debarment lists for the same 

contracts (the $1.34 billion bridge construction contract and the $799 million river 

training works contract). The two banks are reportedly finalizing a MOU to address joint

co-financing issues on this project and will publicly disseminate the MOU. The United 

States is pleased that the Bank will have the lead in the oversight of the project, and seeks

assurances that the Bank’s policies, procedures and guidelines for procurement, 

sanctions, and safeguards will be applied. 

2. Environmental and Social Impacts: The United States appreciates the extensive 

environmental impact assessment completed for this project as well as the comprehensive 

Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan (EMMP). The EIA considered 

alternatives and includes a full baseline of environmental and social conditions in an 

analysis that was fairly well presented. We would like to see further mitigation measures 

for the impacts associated with induced development and with construction operations on 

important river resources (i.e., dolphins and hilsa fish), including sound buffering of the 

piling drives.

 

3. Governance and Anti-Corruption Efforts: The Padma Bridge is expected to have a 

transformative impact on the economic environment in southwestern Bangladesh. 

However, this enormous undertaking is not without major risks, particularly in 

governance at the project/transactional and institutional levels. Despite the risks 

associated with the implementation of such a large project, the United States appreciates

the Bangladeshi Authorities’ commitment to proper implementation and the Bank’s 

efforts to mitigate and guard against governance, corruption and fraud risks. We applaud 
the Governance and Anti-Corruption Accountability Action Plan outlined in the project

document. The Project Integrity Advisor strikes us as a positive safeguard mechanism,

and the United States encourages the Authorities to seek an individual of unquestionable 

integrity to serve in this important function. The United States also requests that the 

Bank pay close attention to maintaining transparency in the procurement process as 

outlined in para. 292 in order to mitigate potentially damaging risks to the Bank’s 

reputation and credibility. 

4. Transparency and Reporting: Given the size and complexity of the operation, the 

United States expects Management to keep the Board updated on the status of 

implementation, including the status of environmental/social and fiduciary safeguards, 

changes in the tariff structure and the financial condition of BBA. In addition, we believe 

it is important to promote full transparency for all Panels of Experts reports and 

government responses as well as BBA procurement data.