Padma bridge criticizers could have sought apology to nation: FM

Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud has said those who had criticized the Padma Bridge project could have sought apology to the nation, as they were proved wrong.    

The minister said this while unveiling a book titled “Padma Bridge: An Epic Accomplishment,” edited by eminent economist Dr Qazi Khaliquzzaman at the foreign ministry on Monday.

“Those who spoke wrong (regarding Padma bridge) during that time did neither acknowledge their mistakes nor seek apology to the nation,” he said.

The foreign minister said during the time, many newspapers made headlines and there were a lot of criticisms in TV talk-shows demonstrating that the Padma Bridge project is not going to be implemented.

Hasan said the Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) and the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) came up with sharp criticism after World Bank’s scrapping of committed loans.

“How could there be corruption where no funds were released? Luckily, the Canadian court concluded that no corruption was found,” he said.

The foreign minister said that the Padma Bridge is the symbol of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s able leadership and shining example of Bangladesh’s capacity Former State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam and Dr Khaliquzzaman also spoke at the event where a new music video of a patriotic song titled “Sonar Bangladesh Dekhte Chai”, written by Hasanuzzaman Masum and sang by singers Kishore Das, Joy Shahriar, Zakia S Kornia and Elita Karim.