Now big bridge to connect deep-sea port

Another major rail-cum-road bridge in Bangladesh will cross over the Karnaphuli River to connect tourist-city Cox's Bazar and Matarbari deep-sea port, officials said, which will establish seamless connectivity up to the country's maritime frontier.
The planned Karnaphuli bridge at Kalurghat in Chattagram in the southeast will happen to be a second such major communications infrastructure in the country after the Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) built over the mighty river near the capital, Dhaka, for road and rail links up to the southwestern land border.
"This will be one of the busiest ones and second-largest bridge after the Padma rail-cum-road bridge in Bangladesh," says a railway official.
Currently, there is a bridge at Kalurghat which is a century-old one built in 1931. It has served its life and already become vulnerable for train movement, and the authorities have to repair the bridge occasionally to keep it in use. Trains have a speed limit of 10kmph on the bridge.
In 1962, as its story goes, the meter-gauge single-line rail bridge was reconfigured so that vehicles could also use the bridge too.
"Bangladesh Railway (BR) has now proposed to build nearly a one-km-long bridge on the Karnaphuli River with dual-gauge rails and two-lane road on it," says the BR official.
As planned, Korean development-partner EDCF will bankroll major portion of the bridge- construction cost, civil servants at the BR said.
The state-owned rail-service provider has recently sent a Development Project Proposal (DPP) to the Planning Commission (PC) for its seal of approval prior to getting down to physical works.
According to the BR sources, it has recently undertaken the project involving a cost of Tk 115.66 billion and sought PC approval for the megaproject.
Out of the cost, the Railway has proposed to spend Tk 44.37 billion from government's internal resources while the remaining amount of Tk 71.28 billion as project loan from the Korean lender.
The EDCF has already assured of providing the project loan worth Tk 71.28 billion, said the BR officials.
A senior BR official says: "The present Kalurghat bridge is in a shambles. It is imperative to be replaced with a new one. So, the proposed bridge will connect the busy Chittagong-Cox's Bazar corridor."
"Soon after approval from the PC, we will start procurement and hiring consultant and the construction contractor for beginning the one-km-long railway-cum-road bridge on the Karnaphuli River."
This one will be the second-largest in Bangladesh after the 6.15km Padma bridge, which connects the capital city with the southwestern Khulna and Barisal divisions.
According to BR, it will start the 'Construction of rail-cum-road bridge over the river Karnaphuli at Kalurghat project' next month, April, and finish the entire works by December 2030.
Another official says the present vulnerable Kalurghat bridge is setting back smooth train service up to Cox's Bazar even after the setting up of new tracks in Dohazari-Cox's Bazar section of the rail route.
"If the Bridge is constructed, the railway communications from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar will be smoother and travel time will be shortened," he adds.
Meanwhile, Korean Export Import Bank (KEXIM) with the technical support of some firms conducted the feasibility study in 2022 for the Kalurghat Bridge.
According to the proposed bridge design, the maximum speed of trains on the railway will be 120km per hour while of the road be 65kmph.
The embankment and substructure of the bridge have been designed for 25-tonne-axel load.

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