Padma bridge by 2018: PM

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expects the construction of the Padma bridge to be over by 2018.
She expressed the hope in Parliament Wednesday, a day after awarding the work order to a Chinese company, according to a news agency.
“The construction of the Padma bridge will take four years. I hope vehicles will have rolled on the bridge by 2018,” the Prime Minister said in reply to a question by Rustom Ali Faraji, MP, Pirojpur-3.
 The 6.15km-long bridge will link capital Dhaka with 21 southern districts, including Pirojpur, by road.
China Major Bridge Engineering Company Limited was given the work order  Monday.
Construction would begin this month or in July, Hasina said.
In 2011, the government had signed a deal with the World Bank for project funding. But the global lender raised allegations of graft and the deal fell through.
A year later, the government decided to mobilise internal resources for the construction work.
“We will build the bridge in four years with our own funds,” the Prime Minister said.