DHAKA: A total of 73,329 people will be affected for the construction of the Padma Bridge, the longest of the bridges in Bangladesh, being built to connect country’s outlying southwest with the capital, according to a survey.

“Of them, 4,000 people will be affected directly, losing their homesteads,” said Dr. Muhammad Zaman, Adviser of Maunsell-AECOM, the consulting firm for the massive Padma Bridge project, citing the study findings.

The disclosure came from an international conference titled ‘Land Acquisition and Resettlement: Balancing Development with Justice’ that concluded in the city Wednesday.

BRAC Development Institute sponsored the meet, which was also told that a total of 879 hectares of land have been acquired for the bridge, link roads and guide dams in Munshiganj, Shariatpur and Madaripur districts.

The consultants have recommended that the government build shelter villages for rehabilitating the directly affected people at both ends of the bridge over the mighty river Padma.

“We have proposed four resettlement shelter villages for the directly affected people who are losing their lands and homes,” Dr. Muhammad Zaman told the Banglanews24.com.bd staff writer.

Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain has hopped that the construction work for the bridge will begin this coming January.

The planned Padma Bridge, with a length of 6.2 kilometres, will be a road-cum-rail bridge having 4 lanes.

The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank and Japan International Cooperation Agency have agreed to finance the project along with government.

The cost of the country`s largest infrastructure project was initially estimated at $1.8 billion, but it soared to $2.4 billion on enhanced cost of construction materials and a decision to build the bridge with under-set steel-truss railway.

The Awami League government has made Padma Bridge one of its top priority projects and it wants to finish the construction by the end of 2013, a year before its five-year tenure expires.

While addressing the concluding session of the conference as chief guest, Atharul Islam, Secretary of Land Ministry, said, “It is vital to resettle the affected people with appropriate value of the acquired land and to compensate them for loss of livelihoods and homesteads.”  

The government high official found flaws in the existing land-acquisition ordinance of 1982, as he said the law is inadequate to ascertain the compensation of the displaced people, determine land valuation and carry out resettlement.

Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman, former adviser of the last caretaker government, said, “Forced eviction of people to implement a development project bears high political and social costs. It should be done with sensitivity, fair play and adequate compensation.”

Dr Hossain Zillur, a prominent economist, has comprehensive findings on the country’s land settlement, perennial ownership disputes and faults in land administration.   

BDST: 1915, HRS. JULY 1, 2010