Communications Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday said the tender was being published on the websites of the Bridges Division and Central Procurement Technical Unit.
An advertisement will also be published in dailies on Thursday, Bridges Division Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam said.
Once constructed, the 6.15 kilometre bridge will connect 21 southern districts with the capital.
The government says the bridge will boost Bangladesh's economy by 1.2 percent.
Minister Quader said only the short-listed companies would be eligible for taking part in the tender process.
Tender bids can be submitted from Jul 7 to Sep 9. A non-refundable Tk 100,000 will have to be submitted with the bid. The bids will be opened at 3pm on Sep 9 in presence of the bidders or their representatives.
Padma bridge Project Director Shafiqul Islam told bdnews24.com five companies were short-listed at the beginning. China Communications Company Ltd was excluded from the list recently after the World Bank declared it ineligible.
He said short-listed Samsung C&T Corporation, China Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group Company Ltd, Denim Industrial Company Limited, and Vinci-HCC, a joint venture of India-France will have the opportunity to take part in the tender bid.
Minister Quader held a meeting with Feng Zhengling, Vice Minister to China’s Ministry of Transport and Communications earlier in the day.
Asked whether financial assistance had been sought from China for the project, Quader said no such proposal was given.
"Padma bridge will be constructed with domestic funding," the Communications Minister reiterated, adding the construction of bridge's mainframe would cost around Tk 100 billion alone.
Bridging the mighty Padma was one of the Awami League’s electoral pledges.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith had allocated Tk 68.52 billion for the bridge in his 2013-14 proposed budget.
A total of 2,452 acres of land have already been acquired at Shariatpur, Madaripur and Munshiganj districts for the bridge. Another 260 acres were obtained by an order. Around Tk 10.14 billion will be spent as compensation to the land owners.
Quader had earlier said the total cost for the bridge would stand at Tk 205.07 billion, including expenses to be incurred on river management, constructing Mawa-Jazeera Approach Road, service area, rehabilitation, supervision consultant, construction yard, toll plaza, and land acquisation.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had said a military ‘composite brigade’ would be deployed for security and supervision of construction works.
The World Bank, the project's lead financier, had pledged $1.2 billion while the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had promised another $1 billion.
But the global lender suspended its funding raising graft allegations involving several top government officials. The government has been denying the charges outright and announced to go ahead with the project with domestic funding.
In January this year, Bangladesh withdrew its funding request from the Washington-based lender.
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