Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Second Meghna Bridge and the Second Gumti Bridge on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway today (Saturday), reports BSS.
"The prime minister will open the bridges through a videoconference from her official Ganabhaban residence tomorrow," Prime Minister's Office sources said Friday.
The Prime Minister will also open Konabari and Chandra flyovers, Kaliakair, Deohata, Mirzapur and Gharinda underpasses and Kadda-1 and Bimail bridges on the Joydebpur-Chandra-Tangail-Elenga Highway under the SASEC Road Link Project.
Apart from this, she will launch the new intercity train named "Panchagarh Express" on the Dhaka-Panchagarh route.
Talking to the news agency, Abu Saleh Md Nuruzzaman, Project Director of the Kanchpur, Meghna and Gumti 2nd Bridges Construction and Existing Bridges Rehab Project, said with the newly-built Kanchpur Bridge already in operation, the two new additions are expected to bring relief to travelers on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, especially during the Eid holidays.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Second Kanchpur Bridge on the river Shitalakhya on March 16 this year.
Nuruzzaman said Japanese contractors Obayshi Corporation, Shimizu Corporation, JFE Engineer Corporation, and IHI Infra Systems Company Limited started the construction work on the 2nd Kanchpur bridge along with the 2nd Meghna and 2nd Meghna-Gumti bridges on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in January 2016.
The total estimated cost of the three bridges was Tk 84.87 billion, of which Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) provided Tk 64.30 billion.
The cost of the project might be over Tk 10.00 billion less than what was estimated, he added.
As per the contract, the project director said, the Japanese firms began work in January 2016 and it was scheduled to complete within June 2019.
"But progress of the work was halted for around four months after the Holey Artisan attack in July 2016," he added.
So, he said, the government extended the deadline for six months to December 2019.
"But, the construction of the bridges has been completed around seven months ahead of time," he added.
Nuruzzaman said that the work on the around 400-metre new Kanchpur bridge, at a cost of Tk 9.50 billion, was completed in December 2017.
"The new Kanchpur bridge is two metres wider than the old one. The authority has already started restoration work on the old bridge," he added. He said the construction work of the new 930-metre Meghna and 1,410-metre Gumti bridges was completed at a cost of Tk 17.50 billion and Tk 19.50 billion respectively.
Nuruzzaman also said that the overpass on the east end of Kanchpur Bridge would be opened to traffic on May 31 to facilitate Eid journey.
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