I want to build a nation the world will be in awe of: PM

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina opened the boring works of the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel in Chattogram on Sunday.
‘I want to build a Bangladesh that the world will be in awe of. This is my only expectation,’ she told a civic rally as the chief guest marking the launching of the boring works of the tunnel at Patenga in the afternoon.
Hasina added, ‘I only want that the people of Bangladesh will be able to move ahead with their head held high. This is why I want to do new things that will bring people solvency and dignity.’
Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader, senior bridges division secretary Khandakar Anwarul Islam and Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Zhang Zou also spoke at the function.
A representative of the China Communication Construction Company Limited, which was appointed as a consultant for construction of the tunnel, presented a replica of the tunnel to the prime minister.
Speaking about her life in exile after the assassination of founder president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the prime minister said: ‘When we were living outside country at that time, we heard people say that Bangladesh was a country of famines, cyclones and tidal surges.’ 
‘The negative things that were said about Bangladesh caused me much pain and I don’t want people to talk about my country negatively anymore,’ she added.
Hasina said that the nation had earned its independence through the shedding of a lot blood. 
‘We’re a victorious nation. We want to move forward with our head held high with dignity,’ she said.
She said that she was working relentlessly to develop the country and put smiles on the faces of the common people. 
‘I am working to make sure that everybody gets education, medical care and a beautiful life and no one will be homeless,’ she said.
She added, ‘After losing everything, I came back to work for the country. I work for an ideology as my father and mother struggled for all their lives and liberated the country to put smiles on the faces of the distressed people.’
Referring to the proposals made by different quarters, including the road transport and bridges minister, for naming the Padma Bridge after herself, the prime minister said that the bridge was to be called the Padma Bridge and she did not want it named after her.
‘We’re constructing the bridge with our own funds. The bridge has become visible now after many hurdles and it will go on to be called the Padma Bridge as before,’ she said.
Highlighting the background of the bridge construction, Hasina said that her previous government in 2001 laid its foundation after carrying out a feasibility study.
After coming to power, the government led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami stopped the work of the bridge and changed its alignment, she said. 
‘They wasted time and said that the bridge will be constructed at another place,’ she said.
The prime minister said after assuming office again in 2009, her government took initiatives to build the bridge again and everybody came forward to help construct the bridge.
‘The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and others showed eagerness to give financial assistance in this regard,’ she said, adding that the World Bank showed the most interest.
‘And then, the World Bank brought allegations of corruption in the project,’ she said. 
‘I asked the bank to explain how any irregularity could occur under circumstances where not a single taka was released till then,’ she said.
The bank had said in response that the conspiracy of graft had taken place, she said.
‘I also asked the World Bank vice-president, who visited Bangladesh with some officials at that time, to prove the allegations,’ she said. 
‘Due to the pressure we created, they later said in a letter that the graft had occurred in the DhakaMymensingh Highway and Siddhirganj Power Plant projects undertaken during the BNP-Jamaat regime in 2002,’ she added.
Without mentioning any names, she said that it was unfortunate that ‘some people of our country put the blame on us for so-called corruption in the Padma Bridge’ while the bridge had no links with those projects.
She said that editors and owners of two renowned newspapers and a man from Chittagong who won the Nobel prize had pocketed people’s money and simultaneously carried out propaganda in the State Department of United States to stop the bridge funding.
Hasina said that a friend of Hillary Clinton’s maintained contact with her by sending her emails on the issue.
The prime minister said that when the World Bank stopped funding in the Padma Bridge project, she took the challenge and initiated the construction works with Bangladesh’s own funds. 
Hasina said that later a case was filed in the Canadian Federal Court but the World Bank could not prove anything. 
‘In the verdict, the court said that no corruption had taken place and whatever the bank said was false and fabricated,’ she said.
The prime minister said that two years were wasted while many believed that Bangladesh would not develop without the World Bank. 
‘The finance minister and an adviser also pressurised on me in this regard,’ she said.
She said that the World Bank gave various conditions, including arrest of some people, to finance the Padma Bridge project.
‘I told the World Bank authorities to prove the allegations first,’ she said.
The prime minister said that by the grace of almighty Allah, the government had been able to launch the construction work of the bridge with own its funding. 
Hasina said that the construction of Karnaphuli Tunnel would bolster industrial development, flourish tourism and expand trade and commerce near the project area, creating employment and boosting exports.
The overall socio-economic development and the lifestyle of the people of this area would improve, she added.
The prime minister said that Bangladesh was making progress at an indomitable pace due to the continuation of democracy.
‘No one will remain poor and homeless. We will construct houses for the homeless. Electricity will reach each household in the country soon,’ the prime minister said.
Hasina said that the nation would celebrate the birth centenary of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 2020 and golden jubilee of independence in 2021.
‘We shall also turn Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021 and a developed and prosperous one by 2041, Insha Allah,’ she added.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net