The government is set to increase the toll of two major bridges from October, but has kept aside the toll proposal for the Padma Bridge.
The bridges are Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge over the Jamuna and Bangladesh-China Friend-ship Bridge, popularly known as Muktarpur Bridge.
Board of the Bangladesh Bridges Authority (BBA) in a virtual meeting on Thursday agreed to introduce new toll rates for the bridges from October, said sources.
But the 110th board meeting, with Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader in the chair, asked the bridges authority to get it approved by the prime minister first.
The BBA, which is to develop, operate and maintain the bridges and elevated expressways above 1.5 kilometres, has proposed to increase the toll rates of the two bridges by 10-15 per cent and got the approval from the Finance Division recently.
However, the toll proposal for the country's most expensive and longest bridge over the Padma had not been approved in the BBA's last few board meetings 'due to the coronavirus situation'.
During Thursday's meeting, the board asked the bridges authority to place the toll proposal for the Padma Bridge three months before its inauguration. The Padma Bridge is set to be inaugurated in June 2022.
Toll rates of the Padma Bridge have been proposed between Tk 836.25 and Tk 2,775, depending on the capacity of a vehicle. However, the proposed rates are 1.5 times higher than the existing toll rates for ferrying vehicles over the Padma river.
The current toll rates for the Bangabandhu Bridge are: Tk 40 for motorcycles; Tk 500 for cars, jeeps, microbuses and other smaller vehicles; Tk 650 for minibuses; Tk 900 for buses; Tk 850 for smaller trucks; Tk 1,100 for medium trucks; and Tk 1,400 for big trucks.
Official sources said the BBA had proposed the increased toll rates for the Padma Bridge as it would have to repay the construction cost to the Finance Division.
According to an agreement between the BBA and the Division, the BBA has to repay the project cost TK 301.93 billion in 35 years with 1.0 per cent interest.
Regarding the proposal for increasing the toll of Bangabandhu Bridge and Muktarpur Bridge, the officials said the proposal had been placed in the light of the toll policy 2015 and the increase in toll rates was necessary to meet the growing maintenance cost of the two bridges.
The 1.52-km Muktarpur Bridge over the Dholeshwari River was completed in February 2008, linking Dhaka with Munshiganj. On the other hand, the 4.8-km Bangabandhu Bridge was inaugurated in June 1998, connecting two sides of the river through Tangail and Sirajganj.
smunima@yahoo.com