The Executive Committee of National Economic Council Sunday approved the revised proposal for the payment more than two years into the completion of the bridge popularly known as the Bhairab bridge.

Immediately after inauguration of the bridge on the Meghna on September 10, 2002, British contractor Edmund Nuttal had placed a claim for £159.72 lakh (Tk176 crore) on 13 grounds including delay in getting permission for dredging, topographical data collection and hartal.

A powerful lobby at the ministries of communications and planning was very active to get the additional funds approved. The lobby of a section of high officials and son of an influential minister managed to get pre-Ecnec approval of it on September 1, sources said.

Planning ministry sources said the matter was pursued for Ecnec nod in an unprecedented haste.

"No objection was raised to the proposal as it was purely a matter for the communications ministry to settle whether the contractor is entitled to get the additional funds or not," said SY Khan Majlish, member of Physical Infrastructure Division of the planning ministry.

"We at the Ecnec examine only whether the proposal has been placed through proper procedure, for which communications ministry is responsible," Majlish said.

A top official at the Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the planning ministry said, "It is a mystery how the proposal was forwarded to pre-Eecnec and IMED levels as it was already rejected by the R&HD."

Once the R&HD rejected the claim for additional funds, it was the end of the story. But it is important to look into under what authority the R&HD rejected the claim and how it was revived, he said seeking anonymity.

"In our report, we are going to highlight all such inconsistencies before forwarding it to the Ecnec," he said.

"Even the project bidding was not open and fair. Although three firms competed, there was constant pressure to award the work to the British firm," he mentioned.

As the R&HD and Halcrow raised objections to the contractor's demand, the communications ministry formed a three-member Dispute Adjudication Board (DAB), which recommended payment of Tk125 crore to the contractor.

As the matter still remained unresolved, a five-member inter-ministerial committee was formed on September 13 last year for an amicable settlement of it. The committee recommended payment of Tk95 crore.

Sources said the communications ministry then sought opinion of the Department for International Development of UK, which only said it was Bangladesh government's concern.

"The matter is being dealt with as per the mediation procedure laid down in the contract," said Communications Minister Nazmul Huda. "I think R&HD and Halcrow objected to the amount of money but did not turn down the claim altogether."

"If the government is deemed liable to pay the claimed money when the entire process is gone through, it will pay," the minister said. "Otherwise, the issue may be sent for international arbitration in which Bangladesh's prospect of winning is not bright, as experts said."

Under a 'Design-Build and Turn Key' kind of contract as this one, a contractor has hardly any scope to make such claim. But under such a contract (also known as Fidic contract), a contractor has scope to bargain and get the stipulated money even before signing of the contract, sources pointed out.

Following the pre-Ecnec meeting, Khan Majlish, who chaired it, had said, " The thing is not that R&HD and the consultant rejected the proposal and we accepted it."

The meeting also observed that Tk21.7 crore of public money was wasted due to financial irregularities in the implementation of the project.

Edmund Nuttal began construction of the bridge on the Meghna on November 3, 1999 and completed it on September 8, 2002.

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia opened the bridge on September 10.