Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina says she went ahead with constructing the Padma Bridge with own resources defying opposition from her finance minister and an adviser.
"My finance minister showed a strong dissent. He told me that it (bridge construction) couldn’t be done without the World Bank. My adviser had also told me the same," she said.
Her remarks came on Saturday while addressing a conference of the teachers of public universities at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC), reports UNB.
The World Bank pulled out from the project on false allegations ‘just to ensure that an individual gets back the top Grameen Bank job’, the report quoted Hasina saying.
"I told my minister and adviser why not we go for constructing the bridge with our own resources. If need be, we’ll change the design but we’ll do that with our own money, not from others," she said.
Hasina said when the whole country was with her at that time, the finance minister and the adviser were against the decision. She, however, did not say who the adviser was.
"We’re now constructing the Padma Bridge with our own money. This single decision has changed Bangladesh’s image."
The World Bank sometimes came with a proposal to fund the project again if a particular person would be arrested while sometimes it proposed using another person, said Hasina.
“When the finance minister and the adviser told me to do so, I listened to them for some time, but I was always against arresting anyone without concrete evidence.”
Hasina said she at that time asked the officials concerned to write to the World Bank seeking evidence of what type of corruption took place there but they failed to provide any proof.
She said the country’s people have to learn how to keep their heads high all time. "We have to build our own country," she said.
Urging the people to votes the Awami League in the next election to keep the development trend on, she said, "If people think the wheel of development should continue, I think they’ll vote for boat and give us another chance to serve them".
The Awami League chief said her aim was to make the development activities visible as the Padma Bridge project did during her two consecutive tenures.
Briefly describing various programmes for the development of the education sector, she said it is not possible to make a country free from hunger and poverty without having an educated nation. "That’s why we always give priority to education," she said.
Sheikh Hasina urged the authorities concerned to look into the quality and standard of education at private universities.
She mentioned that the government has put emphasis on modern technology-based education and vocational training.
Bangladesh University Teachers' Federation President ASM Maksud Kamal chaired the programme where Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid, University Grants Commission Chairman Prof Abdul Mannan and Education Secretary Sohrab Hossain also spoke.