Padma Bridge to help improve southern financial condition: PM

The Padma Bridge has become a reality due to unprecedented support from the people of Bangladesh, says Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, expressing her hope the much-awaited bridge will be inaugurated with fanfare across the country, report agencies.
"We want the celebration to spread to every district and not remain confined near the Padma River, as the bridge was the biggest challenge for us," she said.
"By the grace of Allah, Padma Bridge construction has been completed. The southern region of Bangladesh will no longer be neglected. It's a reality that a proper connectivity system elevates the economy in any geographical location," she said at the inaugural ceremony of the Palli Janapad, Rangpur and Bangabandhu Academy for Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development (BAPARD) in Gopalganj via video conferencing on Thursday.
"I think that the people of the southern region will have no more trouble....Their financial condition will improve. They will be able to lead a more improved life for the development of their socio-economic condition," she said.
The southern region has always been neglected, but it would not remain ignored anymore as the Padma Bridge would help develop industries there, she said, adding that her government has already brought the area under the electricity network and is improving internal road connectivity further there.
"We, the people of the southern region or the banks of Padma River, have always been neglected and poverty has been a regular feature in our lives. But it (poverty) will not remain anymore," she said.
Noting that the Padma Bridge is going to be opened on June 25 next, Sheikh Hasina asked the people of the country to celebrate its grand launching as the construction of the 6.15-km double-deck road-rail bridge over the mighty river was a matter of big challenge for Bangladesh.
"Celebrate it not only on the banks of Padma, but also throughout Bangladesh. I want the festival to be held in every district because it was a big challenge for us," she said.
The PM said many people earlier thought that the government couldn't construct the Padma Bridge over the mighty Padma River.
Mentioning the Padma Bridge inauguration on Jun 25, Hasina requested everyone to be patient and not engage in reckless driving which may cause accidents.
After the Amazon, the Padma is the river with the strongest current, she said, and no one believed that Bangladesh could construct a bridge over the Padma River.
"The bridge we constructed now is a double-decked one where trains will run on the lower deck and road transport on the upper deck. This was a tough task to accomplish and probably the first of its kind globally," said the prime minister.
Lambasting Dr Muhammad Yunus, she once again said the World Bank's funding to the Padma multipurpose bridge project was stopped due to a person who got the highest opportunities from the Awami League government but betrayed with the people of Bangladesh.