AFTER months of negotiations and investing in consultancy fees and feasibility studies over Bangladeshs controversial Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB), Malaysia may potentially face a raw deal or be at a losing end over the project.
Malaysia got connected with the US$2.9 billion (RM8.9 billion) project when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided to offer it to Kuala Lumpur almost a year ago after the World Bank scrapped its financing offer.
But, news of the latest thinking of the government in Dhaka surfaced in the Financial Express of Bangladesh a few days ago, which quoted sources as saying that though the (Bangladeshi) government has invited the Malaysian government to invest in the countrys priority project in January, it, however, put the World Banks return to the project as its first choice.
The World Bank is now set to finance the project which has been much talked about over the last 10 years.
It agreed to revive its once cancelled US$1.2 billion (RM3.7 billion) loan after having pulled out earlier, alleging corruption by government officials.
A Bangladesh Bridge Authoritys (BBA)official was quoted as saying that the Malaysian proposal was yet to be ready for negotiation.
He said despite a memorandum of understand (MoU) signed between the governments of two Muslim countries on April 10 this year, both countries were allowed to come out of the MoU unconditionally.
There was a timeframe of nine months to finalise the proposal for starting the construction in the MoU. But, after five months we could not get a concrete proposal to go forward, an official from BBA claimed.
Malaysias Special envoy to India and South Asia Datuk Seri Samy Vellu said the country was currently making final preparations to submit its formal proposal to the Bangladeshi government. A draft concession agreement has already been submitted.
Samy Vellu said Dhaka was happy that Malaysia had kept to the timeline and officially submitted its final proposal, documented with the legal, technical and financial aspects of the bridge project last month, ahead of the stipulated timeframe.
On Sept 13, Hasina herself acknowledged that Malaysia had submitted its concessional offer on the Padma Bridge on Aug 27 and the government was still analysing it.
She was quoted as saying that it was inappropriate on the World Banks part to cancel its loan pledge without discussing the issue at the lending agencys board and its earlier cancellation had delayed the project.
The project spans over the five-km wide Padma River, which takes water from the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in the north and flows into the Bay of Bengal.
The bridge attempts to connect south-western Bangladesh, which is regarded as an under-developed area populated by about 30 million people isolated by the giant river, to the nations capital, Dhaka, about 40km away.
The proposed six km-long bridge could also be a gateway to India via Kolkata, and some observers even see it as connecting South Asia with South-East Asia via Bangladesh and Myanmar.
PMB is not the only touchy issue involving Malaysian interests in Bangladesh: Kulim Technology Park Corporation (KTPC) is also somewhat in a bind.
A row has erupted between the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) and KHTP over the issue of re-blocking in Bangladeshs first-ever high-tech park.
Re-blocking refers to splitting the project into three parts and awarding those parts to more than just one developer.
An official from KHTP argued that there was no provision for re-blocking in the request for proposal of the projects tender documents and that it was a complete violation of the request for proposal clauses, the Financial Express reported.
A senior official at the BHTPA claimed that the authority deserved some right that were not included in the tender documents.
There have been allegations that other companies now wanted to join in the high-tech parks development.
Malaysian companies seem to be treated badly, probably it is time that we quit before more of our firms go through the same thing, an official close to the deals told Bernama.
Malaysia went to Bangladesh, especially on the Padma River project, armed with goodwill to help another Muslim nation but Kuala Lumpurs good intention seemed to have been ignored, he said.
In view of the latest developments, he suggested that Kuala Lumpur re-look at the MoU that it planned to sign with Dhaka next month on recruiting more Bangladesh workers and recognising it as source country.
Currently, there are over 400,000 Bangladeshis working in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur stopped hiring additional Bangladeshi workers since 2007.
Malaysia is the largest Asean investor in Bangladesh.
The trade gap between Bangladesh and Malaysia is substantial.
Bangladesh imported goods worth US$1.762 billion (RM5.4 billion) from Malaysia in the 2010/11 fiscal year while it exported goods worth US$43.87 million (RM135 million) in the same period.
Are we getting a raw deal in Bangladesh? | The Malay Mail
Malaysia got connected with the US$2.9 billion (RM8.9 billion) project when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina decided to offer it to Kuala Lumpur almost a year ago after the World Bank scrapped its financing offer.
But, news of the latest thinking of the government in Dhaka surfaced in the Financial Express of Bangladesh a few days ago, which quoted sources as saying that though the (Bangladeshi) government has invited the Malaysian government to invest in the countrys priority project in January, it, however, put the World Banks return to the project as its first choice.
The World Bank is now set to finance the project which has been much talked about over the last 10 years.
It agreed to revive its once cancelled US$1.2 billion (RM3.7 billion) loan after having pulled out earlier, alleging corruption by government officials.
A Bangladesh Bridge Authoritys (BBA)official was quoted as saying that the Malaysian proposal was yet to be ready for negotiation.
He said despite a memorandum of understand (MoU) signed between the governments of two Muslim countries on April 10 this year, both countries were allowed to come out of the MoU unconditionally.
There was a timeframe of nine months to finalise the proposal for starting the construction in the MoU. But, after five months we could not get a concrete proposal to go forward, an official from BBA claimed.
Malaysias Special envoy to India and South Asia Datuk Seri Samy Vellu said the country was currently making final preparations to submit its formal proposal to the Bangladeshi government. A draft concession agreement has already been submitted.
Samy Vellu said Dhaka was happy that Malaysia had kept to the timeline and officially submitted its final proposal, documented with the legal, technical and financial aspects of the bridge project last month, ahead of the stipulated timeframe.
On Sept 13, Hasina herself acknowledged that Malaysia had submitted its concessional offer on the Padma Bridge on Aug 27 and the government was still analysing it.
She was quoted as saying that it was inappropriate on the World Banks part to cancel its loan pledge without discussing the issue at the lending agencys board and its earlier cancellation had delayed the project.
The project spans over the five-km wide Padma River, which takes water from the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers in the north and flows into the Bay of Bengal.
The bridge attempts to connect south-western Bangladesh, which is regarded as an under-developed area populated by about 30 million people isolated by the giant river, to the nations capital, Dhaka, about 40km away.
The proposed six km-long bridge could also be a gateway to India via Kolkata, and some observers even see it as connecting South Asia with South-East Asia via Bangladesh and Myanmar.
PMB is not the only touchy issue involving Malaysian interests in Bangladesh: Kulim Technology Park Corporation (KTPC) is also somewhat in a bind.
A row has erupted between the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA) and KHTP over the issue of re-blocking in Bangladeshs first-ever high-tech park.
Re-blocking refers to splitting the project into three parts and awarding those parts to more than just one developer.
An official from KHTP argued that there was no provision for re-blocking in the request for proposal of the projects tender documents and that it was a complete violation of the request for proposal clauses, the Financial Express reported.
A senior official at the BHTPA claimed that the authority deserved some right that were not included in the tender documents.
There have been allegations that other companies now wanted to join in the high-tech parks development.
Malaysian companies seem to be treated badly, probably it is time that we quit before more of our firms go through the same thing, an official close to the deals told Bernama.
Malaysia went to Bangladesh, especially on the Padma River project, armed with goodwill to help another Muslim nation but Kuala Lumpurs good intention seemed to have been ignored, he said.
In view of the latest developments, he suggested that Kuala Lumpur re-look at the MoU that it planned to sign with Dhaka next month on recruiting more Bangladesh workers and recognising it as source country.
Currently, there are over 400,000 Bangladeshis working in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur stopped hiring additional Bangladeshi workers since 2007.
Malaysia is the largest Asean investor in Bangladesh.
The trade gap between Bangladesh and Malaysia is substantial.
Bangladesh imported goods worth US$1.762 billion (RM5.4 billion) from Malaysia in the 2010/11 fiscal year while it exported goods worth US$43.87 million (RM135 million) in the same period.
Are we getting a raw deal in Bangladesh? | The Malay Mail
