3rd and 4th installments of Padma Bridge loan paid

Bangladesh Bridge Authority today paid Taka 316.02 crore as 3rd and 4th installments of the loan taken for the construction of Padma Bridge.

In the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Secretary of the Bridge Division and Executive Director of Bangladesh Bridge Authority Md Manjur Hossain handed over a cheque of Taka 316,02,69,093 to the Senior Secretary of the Finance Division at 10am on Monday (June 19), an official release said.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, members of the cabinet, cabinet secretary, prime minister’s principal secretary, senior secretaries, secretaries and journalists from electronic and print media were present during the event.

The government of Bangladesh built the Padma Bridge, the largest infrastructure of the country, with its own funds and a total of Taka 32,605.52 crore was spent on it.

Almost the entire amount of the construction cost was given as a loan to the Bangladesh Bridge Authority by the Finance Division.

On 26 July, 2022, Bangladesh Bridge Authority signed a revised loan agreement with the government’s finance division, according to which the loan will be paid in 35 years at a 1% interest rate. According to the loan repayment schedule, the interest will be paid in four installments every fiscal year, with a total of 140 installments.

A total of Taka 28,099,330 SDR, including interest and principal, will be paid in four installments in a year in 60 installments. Note that as of 5 April 2023, a total of Taka 3,169,097,050 has been paid for the 1st and 2nd installments. A total of Taka 63,293,366,142 was disbursed in the first year.

Following the agreement, the debt repayment of the bridge has started from the fiscal year 2022-23 and the Bangladesh Bridge Authority will get time till the fiscal year 2056-57 to repay the debt.

After the inauguration of the bridge on 25 June, 2022, a total of Taka 7,797,587,000 has been collected as toll till June 18, 2023. (BSS)