The government has set a fresh target to start construction of the Lebukhali bridge by December next after missing last year's target to establish direct link between capital Dhaka and southern region including the proposed port at Payra river.
Officials said as per new schedule, tender for the Tk 4.13 billion bridge construction works will be floated by the middle of October.
They said prequalification of the contractor firms will be completed by September as PQ submission date ends on August 28.
"We are hopeful to start the construction by December as the detailed design of the 1.47 km bridge will also be completed by then," said an official of the project office.
He said the Indian-led consultants have already made significant progress in designing the four-lane bridge and will submit it by September.
However, due to delay in appointing key persons including the Project Director for the Lebukhali bridge project office and bureaucratic tangle to give work order to design consultants, schedule of the project could not be maintained, sources said.
They said the project office has been running with insufficient manpower due to lesser importance given to the bridge construction.
"Almost 14 months have been spent to settle conflict over selecting the design consultant following complaints by other participating firms in 2012," they said preferring not to be named.
They said the firms complained about forging documents by the lead Indian partner which the project office has to settle through the high commissions of both the countries by verifying information.
Experts said the Lebukhali bridge is important to make the Dhaka-Mawa-Faridpur-Barisal-Patuakhali highway free from ferry service and its speedy implementation will boost tourism and trade activities with the southern region by establishing direct link with Kuakata and Payrabandar.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD), the implementing agency of the Kuwait-funded project, said with the construction of the Padma Bridge and completion of the three other underconstruction bridges after Payra bridge, the Dhaka-Kuakata direct link will be established. The bridge will also establish link with Japan-funded coal-based power plant at Payrabandar.
The officials said due to importance of the project, immediate manpower for the project office should be given to ensure speedy work by facilitating contractors.
It is also needed to check escalation of the project cost due to delay by more than one year, they added.
When asked, Project Manager Ahmed Sharif, however, said despite the delay, they have made good progress in preparing detailed design and land acquisition.
He said the consultants will submit final design by September and the Deputy Commissioner's office has already started acquiring lands.
Within two-and-a-half-years of launching the Lebukhali bridge project, all these important work is going to be completed, he told the FE.
The RHD had taken the Lebukhali bridge project over Payra river in 2009 and approved the development project proposal (DPP) in 2012 after completing feasibility study.
Of the total fund of US$ 60.87 million (Tk 457.30 crore), the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) has been providing $48 million while the rest of the amount will be given from the national exchequer.
The government has already started construction of three bridges at Andarmanik and Khepupara-Mohipal on the Dhaka-Patuakhali-Kuakata national highway after Lebukhali bridge which are expected to be completed within two years.
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