Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) has formed a committee to work on a new toll policy for the much-hyped Padma Bridge as the 6.15-km bridge has become visible with completion of span installation last week.
Officials said the BBA formed the committee in a meeting on Monday with Additional Secretary Anwar Hossain as its head. It will now review and recommend bridge toll, taking various issues into consideration.
"We have guided the committee to review the toll policy 2015 and compare it with the tolls now being collected from different bridges including Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge, Meghna and Meghna-Gumti and Muktarpur bridges to propose an acceptable toll for Padma Bridge," said BBA executive director Mohammad Belayet Hossain.
The committee will also compare the toll rates with loan interest to be paid to the government as the BBA took out a loan of Tk 301.19 billion from the government to build the bridge, he added.
Sources said BBA has been paying interest to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency at a rate of 0.5 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively for Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge. But it has to pay the government one per cent interest on the project costs.
During signing of the loan agreement with the Ministry of Finance, the BBA has assessed a rate of one and a half times more toll based on ferry services available in Padma river with a plan to repay the government's loan in 35 years.
The officials said the new toll policy will also review categories of vehicles to separate rates as Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge takes same tolls of trucks, lorries and trailers as the rate of trucks.
Axle load must be considered in the case of the toll rate of the country's longest rail-cum-road bridge, they added.
At present, the BBA earns Tk 10 million daily on an average from Jamuna Bridge but it will collect tolls from Muktarpur Bridge in Munshiganj as the developer and maintenance and operational authority.
Recently, the authority had proposed to increase the tolls of both bridges by 45 per cent but its board did not accept it.
The board formed with 12 secretaries as its members rejected the proposal, considering the economic situation of the country amid the coronavirus pandemic. Officials, however, expect to complete the mega project by June 2022.
smunima@yahoo.com