A year-long uncertainty over getting Chinese loan for the Padma Rail Link project is likely to go soon as Exim Bank has confirmed signing of a loan agreement under government-to government arrangement by December.
Official sources said the Exim Bank board of directors approved the loan for the Tk 349.88-billion project at the end of October. The bank authority is now looking to China's Ministry of Commerce for approval.
The Bangladesh Railway (BR) is expected to get the draft of the loan agreement by this month (November), they added.
Rail Secretary Mohammad Mofazzel Hossain said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during his recent visit to Bangladesh, had also assured them of signing the loan deal by December.
Soon after the draft of the loan agreement is finalised, the date for the loan signing ceremony will be announced, he told the FE.
Financing the Padma rail link project, part of a dream project on communications infrastructure, had become uncertain as the designated Chinese bank remained silent about signing of the loan agreement for long.
It was also one of the potential projects up for signing the financing agreement during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Bangladesh in October 2016. But due to delay in the process of completing necessary procedures, the loan agreement was not inked.
The Bangladesh Railway took up the Padma Rail Link Project in the fiscal year 2016-17 with an aim to launch rail communications over Padma Bridge simultaneously on the day of inauguration of the road bridge, a much-cherished mega-infrastructure project undertaken as a challenge after international multilateral donors had backtracked following certain disputes.
All these led to a delay in the process of starting implementation of the Padma Rail Link project by more than one and a half years from the schedule. It also made BR performance lower ever, 66 per cent, in the annual development programme.
Official sources said the BR has already taken necessary preparations to start the construction of the Padma rail link as per the guidance of Exim Bank.
They said land acquisition from Dhaka to Bhanga has already been completed.
The BR signed the commercial contract with the Chinese company for implementing Padma Rail Link project with a fund worth US$ 3.4 billion under government-to-government arrangement in August 2016.
This 215-kilopmetre rail link, crossing over the mighty river, is to reduce travel distance and contribute to the country's economy through increased freight traffic to avail the port facilities at Mongla seaport. It is also a part of the Trans-Asian railway.
