Why is there so much noise among netizens about Padma Bridge toll? Can Padma Bridge today change the lives of people in the southern region?

 Recently the talk of the town in Bangladesh is the Padma Bridge toll. Tool floating on the tide of trolls. But why?

Padma Bridge toll notification shows the minimum toll starting from one hundred takas to a maximum of more than six thousand takas. In the announced notification, it is said that the toll for motorbikes will be 100 takas. In case of crossing which put before. There were seventy bucks. Seven hundred and fifty takas for the private car which was five hundred takas in the case of the ferry. And in the case of the minibus, fourteen hundred taka which was nine hundred and fifty takas on the ferry. In this way, the toll rate has increased by about one and a half times compared to ferries, depending on the vehicles such as ordinary buses, microbuses, big buses, trucks etc. Some say that the rate of the tool is right, while others say that it is the origin of the mug or not? Padma bridge toll went out of public interest? Or how reasonable is the toll set against the services received from the Padma Bridge? To what extent will fixed tolls affect vehicle fares? Bangladesh has prepared the Padma Bridge with its own funding, that is, with people's tax money. Then why so much toll is being levied on the people? It is natural to ask such various questions because Padma Bridge is the only development project in Bangladesh where the largest number of people are directly involved. The detailed design of the Padma bridge has stated in the preliminary design that the project will directly affect more than three crore people in an area of ​​about forty-four thousand square kilometres or thirty-nine per cent of the total area of ​​Bangladesh. As a result, as a common man, there will be questions about this development project? This is normal. If you are asked in the socio-economic reality of Bangladesh, how reasonable is the toll of Padma Bridge? You may come to a conclusion of your own. Maybe you will give a linear answer. That prescribed toll is reasonable to you or not. We need to observe some context to understand how reasonable and affordable the Padma Setu toll is. Apart from this, the foresight of toll determination will also depend on how much the government can control the corruption of businessmen, bus owners associations, transport owners, and law enforcement forces to ensure economic governance on this route after the traffic starts. What is this really about the bridge tool?

When the government levies a certain amount on vehicles in return for the services rendered, to recover the investment in building a bridge and meeting the maintenance costs along with the creation of new investment opportunities. It is called Bridge Toll. The history of toll collection is very old. However, there is no difference in the tool collection process from the present. The world's first toolset was opened to the public in 1209 on Old London Bridge, which was built over the historic River Thames. Two corporations have been given the responsibility of collecting the tolls of Padma Setu and maintaining the bridge. One is Korea Express Corporation KEC and another is China Major Bridge Engineering Company MBSC. Now let's see what criteria are considered in determining the toll.

First is the rate of return. If a mega project or large development project is undertaken, the pre-feasibility and feasibility of the project have to be studied. Based on that, an economic survey is to be made. In the economic survey, the government will spend money on specific projects against the number of benefits people can get from that specific project? An investment decision is sound only when the rate of return is at least twelve per cent. According to the economic survey, the rate of return for Padma Bridge is nineteen per cent, that is, if a citizen spends one hundred rupees for Padma Bridge, he will get one hundred and nineteen rupees in return. The second is labour hours

 Let's start with a basic question. What is the purpose of each creation or development project of this human civilization? In simple words to increase the efficiency of our public life. Efficiency is an indicator of how much work we can do in the amount of time we spend. If we want to explain all the benefits of Padma Setu in one sense then we have to say that Padma Setu will increase efficiency in our life. In the absence of Padma Setu, a person would have needed seven to ten hours to travel from Dhaka to Khulna. But if the Padma Bridge is opened, it will be possible to leave within four to five hours. One can use the spare time to produce more labour. Through which maybe his income will be much more. How much manpower will be saved by taking service from Padma Bridge also acts as an important indicator in determining the toll?

The third is the number of initial daily traffic or initial daily traffic and traffic growth. At present, about 1 million vehicles and 20 million people travel through the Mawa Jazira ferry every year. Where about fifty-eight thousand passengers travel daily. According to JICA, considering the ten-year traffic forecast or traffic demand four casts, it is said that forty thousand five hundred and fifty vehicles will travel through the Padma Bridge every day. That is, when the Padma Bridge starts, there will be nine times more traffic on this route than on the current one. That means a car can move eight times more than before. That means he can maximize profit much more than toll.

Fourth is the amount of debt. Interest rate loan repayment range. According to the agreement of the bridge department with the finance department of Bangladesh, the government has given a loan of thirty thousand one hundred and ninety-three forty-nine crores to the bridge department. Which will be paid within thirty-five years at a one per cent interest rate by the bridge authority. Keeping this target in mind, the bridge authority has determined the toll. Now let's come to the limitation of setting the toll of Padma Bridge. There is considerable debate as to how far the prescribed tolls are in line with current inflation and public purchasing power. Because at the end of the day, people will use it. Therefore, many feel that there is a need for research to monitor the extent of their intention to receive services at this price or their willingness of instituted services. A development project is not in full swing at first. It takes some time for a project to become productive even at a minimum level.

That is, more benefits than costs from a project tend to come after a certain period. It can be said that there will be additional pressure on the people until this cost-benefit ratio is equal or higher. As a result of the Padma Bridge, goods from the southern region will come to Dhaka very easily and the risk of transporting perishable goods will also be reduced. But this will cause another problem. The problem is that when the same product from the southern region comes from other districts, there will be a difference in the price of the products of the two regions. It remains to be seen how the government controls this price variation.

The distance from Dhaka to Khulna by road is about two hundred and fifty kilometres. But if you travel through Padma Bridge, the distance will be reduced to one hundred and ninety kilometres. Sixty-five kilometres will come down. It will reduce fuel consumption. Usually, most buses run on diesel. The price of one litre of diesel is eighty-five rupees. Due to the reduction of 65 km distance, the fuel cost of the Dhaka Khulna bus will be reduced by about 1 thousand seven hundred and eighty-five taka. Truck fuel cost will be reduced by one thousand one hundred and seventy rupees. Two thousand seven hundred and sixty-three takas in the trawler. Microbuses will also reduce the fuel cost of private cars by 589 taka and motorcycle fuel costs by 134 takas. The distance between Dhaka and Jessore through the Padma bridge will be reduced to about fifty kilometres from the current two hundred and twelve kilometres. It will save about seventeen litres of fuel on the bus. In other words, even if the toll cost increases, the fuel consumption of the vehicles is decreasing. Keeping that in mind, how much-balanced rent is determined is also a matter to be seen. If balanced fares are not fixed then people will suffer. The happiest time in a person's life is when he sees the realization of his dreams little by little. We are going through such times. The Padma Bridge of dreams is now on the edge of reality. How much transparency and economic governance can we establish with the use of Padma Bridge. So how much will we benefit from the dream Padma Bridge?