Exceptionally high Tk89 crore splurged on inauguration programme

TDS Desk:

The construction of two murals, each depicting the portraits of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Sheikh Hasina, on both ends of Padma Bridge cost Tk117 crore, which was exorbitantly higher than the less than Tk50 crore market rate.

Sculptors and mural builders made this observation in talks with reporters, highlighting the scale of the corruption the ousted Awami League regime committed in the name of the project.

Sculptor Hamiduzzaman Khan and Architect Mohammad Ali Naqi confirmed to reporters that the Tk117 crore spent on the complex is exorbitantly high.

Furthermore, no tender was issued for the mural construction, and contractors were cherry-picked to best serve the interests of the Awami League government.

The same practice was followed in arranging the Padma Bridge inauguration programme on 25 June 2022, when a whooping Tk89 crore was spent, thanks to contractors charging three to five times more for each material.

One of the contractor companies for the mural construction was Majid Sons, which was involved in the Rooppur Power Plant pillow scam.

The murals were not even part of the original Padma Bridge project. They were constructed in a rush and the entire installation on both sides of the bridge was dubbed “Inauguration Complex.”

Architect Mohammad Ali Naqi claimed the construction cost of road-side murals depend on the market rate of per square feet construction.

The rate may vary among contractor companies, but for the Padma Bridge murals cannot reach as high as Tk117 crore.