Two loan agreements worth 41.49 million 10 thousand dollars have been signed between Bangladesh and South Korea for the construction of a rail-cum-road bridge at Kalurghat point on the Karnaphuli river. Bangladesh will get this loan with flexible interest rate and conditions.
The loan agreement was signed between the Bangladesh government and Korea Exim Bank in the NEC conference room of the Economic Relations Department of the Ministry of Finance on Thursday (June 27).
According to the information, two loan agreements of 7247 million 30000 dollars from EDCF fund and 901 million 180 thousand dollars from EDPF fund have been signed for the purpose of implementation of the ‘Rail Cum Road Bridge Construction at Kalurghat Point on Karnaphuli River’ project for the period of 2024-2030. has been This project will be implemented by Bangladesh Railways under the Ministry of Railways under the joint funding of EDCF and EDPF. In the agreement, the Secretary of the Department of Economic Relations on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh. Signed by Shahriar Quader Siddiqui and Yoon Hee Sung, Chairman and CEO, on behalf of Korea Exim Bank. Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali, Minister of Railways at the contract signing ceremony. Jillul Hakim, Minister of State for Finance Wasika Ayesha Khan and Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Park Yong Sik were present.
The objective of the project is to ensure uninterrupted rail and road connectivity by constructing a rail-cum-road bridge over the Karnaphuli River at Kalurghat Point, to remove operational constraints of the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar corridor, to achieve balanced economic development by increasing inter-regional trade facilities, to construct parts of the Trans-Asian Railway Network. , achieving balanced economic development by improving the quality of life of local residents and increasing inter-regional trade facilities.
The Korean government has been providing flexible credit support to various priority development projects in Bangladesh since 1993 through the Korea Exim Bank. In this project, the interest rate of the loan agreement under EDCF fund is 1.001 percent and the repayment period is 15 and a half years and 5 months with a grace period of 40 years and 5 months. On the other hand, the interest rate of the loan agreement under EDPF fund is 1 percent and the repayment period is 30 years with a press period of 7 years