Japan finally shows interest in Meghna Bridge repair work

Munima Sultana | Published: December 21, 2011 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Munima Sultana
Japan has finally shown interest in repairing the 'risky' Meghna Bridge on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway after the Bangladesh government offered the country a proposal to construct the second Meghna Bridge. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Japanese government's soft loan lending agency, has finally shown its interest in undertaking the Tk 1.49 billion Meghna Bridge rehabilitation work during a meeting between its visiting mission and Communications Minister Obaidul Quader at the ministry office Tuesday. Officials said the JICA has agreed to the government's offer after the Economic Relations Division formally invited it to assist in the construction of the new Meghna Bridge, cancelling the process of getting loan from the Chinese government for the same project. The Communications Ministry has long been requesting JICA only to repair the Meghna Bridge, which was found vulnerable for traffic movement amidst its budget constraints and lack of expertise in carrying out the repair work of the important bridge. In absence of the Japanese agency's response, the government finally approved the Tk 1.49 billion rehabilitation work to be completed by its own funds. JICA officials said it has been difficult for them to accept the government's request due to complications in carrying out the repair work without 'coordination' with the second Meghna Bridge work. They said 'coordination' is a must to carry out both the repair work of the damaged bridge and construction of the new one for keeping the country's main economic corridor for traffic movement unhindered. "We've been offering our support to the Meghna Bridge for more than a year. Therefore, we welcome the recent request by the government, although we regret that more than a year has been lost for such an important work," said Mayumi Endoh, senior representative of JICA Dhaka office. At least 20,000 vehicles use the country's main economic corridor which connects Chittagong port with the rest of the country including the capital Dhaka. The governnemnt had been looking for the Chinese government assistance for the second Meghna Bridge keeping aside the Japanese government's offer during the last one year, which the officials said, was due to the interest of the past Communcaitions Minister Syed Abul Hossain. Japan constructed the 930-metre Meghna Bridge in 1991 with a 100-year longevity. However, the two-lane bridge was found vulnerable after ten years of its use, which the experts have attributed to massive use of the overloaded vehicles. A study conducted by the present government with the help of JPZ Malaysia-HCEL in March also found the bridge to be risky and asked the government to carry out immediate repair work for the sake of the country's economy. The construction of the second Megnna Bridge has also been felt to be necessary to accommodate the increasing numbers of traffic on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway, which is being expanded to four lanes from a two-lane one.