The government signs a Tk 53.99 billion contract with a joint venture Japanese (JV) company today (Wednesday) on construction of three new bridges on the Dhaka-Chittagong corridor along with rehabilitation of old bridges for improving capacity of the country's main highway.
Under the contract the 2nd Katchpur, 2nd Meghna and 2nd Meghna-Gumti bridges will be constructed by 2018 and retrofitting of the existing three bridges will also be done afterward before opening those in 2021.
Besides, a flyover-cum-intersection will also be constructed on the other side of the Katchpur bridge to manage traffic on the Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Sylhet roads, sources said.
The contract signing ceremony with the OSJI Joint Venture (Obayashi Corpo-ration. Shimizu Corporation, JFE Enginee-ring Corpo-ration and IHI Infrastructure System Company Limited of Japan) will be held at a city hotel.
Sources said the four Japanese companies under the joint venture won the job by offering a 1.4 per cent lower cost than that estimated at Tk 67.00 billion.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) has undertaken the project for construction of the Katchpur, Meghna and Gumti second bridges and rehabilitation of the existing bridges at a cost of Tk 84.86 billion in 2013 after the existing three bridges had turned vulnerable.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing technical and financial support for the bridge construction and rehabilitation project. Tk 20.57 billion is coming from the state coffer.
After a feasibility study, the Japanese consultant recommended construction of the 2nd Katchpur and 2nd Meghna-Gumti bridges downstream of the existing bridges and the Meghna bridge upstream of the earlier one.
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