Padma bridge: Bank's big bungle

It was the country’s largest infrastructure project, that is up to that point of time in 2011, costing $2.9 billion.

It was also the World Bank’s largest loan to the tune of $1.2 billion. Asian Development Bank and JICA and Islamic Development Bank also joined hands to fund the project so vital for Bangladesh’s development, especially for the 30 million people living in the disadvantaged south for whom the river Padma stood as a solid barrier towards national integration.

It was a dream coming true.

And then the bolt came from the blue. One fine morning, the World Bank brought the allegation that there had been ‘‘corruption conspiracy’’ in the bridge project.

READ MORE: Canada court finds no proof of Padma bridge bribery conspiracy

Suddenly, all bees were humming and stinging. The bank went into a hyper gear to stand stern against the ‘‘corruption conspiracy’’, and its then country director Ellen Goldstein started shuttling between Dhaka and Washington, firming up the allegation.

READ MORE: Padma bridge - towards realising a dream

Bangladesh reeled under the weight of the blow and the high profile activities that whirled on. But it remained firm to say that there had been no corruption. Team after team from the World Bank came and met the government officials.

After prolonged discussions, the government took steps that the bank sought to investigate the allegation. Then communication minister Syed Abul Hossain resigned, bridges division secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan was sent to jail and PM's adviser Mashiur Rahman was sidelined, though he held his post.

The Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) embarked on an investigation which yielded no corroboration of the allegations.

And yet the World Bank dropped the final shell in July 2012 when it finally scrapped the project because in its words it had “credible evidence corroborated by a variety of sources which points to a high-level corruption conspiracy among Bangladeshi government officials, SNC Lavalin executives and private individuals in connection with the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project”.

READ MORE: 'A scam to discredit PM Hasina'

It claimed to have gone “the extra mile” when it sent a high-level team to Dhaka to explain the bank's position and receive the government's response.

“The response has been unsatisfactory. The World Bank cannot, should not, and will not turn a blind eye to evidence of corruption,” the bank concluded while cancelling the project, sinking the hearts of 160 million people, putting this country along with its population to shame before the world.

And what was its evidence of corruption?  Was it that great that the Bank could not turn its ‘blind eye” to? Well, now that the Canadian court decision has come on the case we know the worth of the evidence that the Bank also provided to Canadian police. The evidence is worth nothing and that is why the Canadian court has thrown the case out.

READ MORE: Acquittal sparks call for apology

And what did the country pay for the bank’s solid evidence that it could not turn blind eye to? Its pride lost momentarily to the world is priceless. The insult suffered is immeasurable. Thanks to the country’s strong forex reserves and willingness of China to do business, the bridge is going ahead but at a much higher cost. What could have been accomplished for $2.9 billion has now reached $3.6 billion.  The poor people of Bangladesh will have to pay that extra almost a billion dollar just because of the bank’s “evidence” that does not hold in any court.

Another statement by the bank similar to the one it issued to announce the cancellation of the loan was in order to clarify its position after the Canadian court verdict. An explanation of why it showed all those knee jerk reactions that yielded to nothing but suffering for a nation was necessary. But it did not come.

READ MORE: Chinese firm to build Padma bridge

It is incredulous that the World Bank with expertise on almost anything under the sun failed to understand through its legal departments that the so-called evidence is all moth-eaten and lame. This one single incident will have dented the organisation’s standing in the eyes of the nations. 

Like it demanded a special inquiry team of the ACC to dig out the so-called ‘corruption’ in the bridge project, the bank may now appoint its own special inquiry team to dig out what went wrong in it and why.