A meeting of the panel of experts on Padma Bridge project will begin at the project site today (Thursday) to review the overall progress of work, officials said.
The three-day meeting with the contractors and consultants is expected to discuss the challenges being faced in constructing the main bridge and river training.
The overall progress of implementation fell behind the October target of 35.16 per cent by about two per cent, due to technical difficulties.
The meeting of the 11-member panel that takes place once in four months would also take stock of the progress of the approach road. It will review different environmental studies, including biodiversity, in presence of 12 foreign environment experts.
The panel would discuss the status of baseline study on biodiversity conducted to examine the situation that emerged after the start of the construction of the $3 billion project.
Officials said work on the main bridge construction at Mawa side could not be started in full swing yet due to technical problems, including confirmation of load test of piers, while Janjira side witnessed some progress.
They, however, expected the project office to get confirmation in a month as the Chinese contractor is set to share status of all the load tests done at the panel meeting, the fourth of its kind.
"There has been several tests done, based on which we will take a decision on going ahead with the construction of the main part of the bridge," said an official, preferring not to be named.
He, however, said the overall progress is still satisfactory as three steel spans out of total 40 reached the construction yards and will soon be placed on the piers.
   smunima@yahoo.com
Experts to review Padma Bridge progress amid tech difficulties
Munima Sultana | Published: November 10, 2016 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like