Padma Bridge’s full length takes shape

The country's longest 6.15-kilometre road-cum-rail bridge over the Padma is now visible with the installation of the last span on its piers on Thursday.
With this, the setting up of composite steel truss structures on the bridge was also completed.
The Chinese contractor placed the span on piers 12 and 13 around 12:02 pm, thus establishing a link between Jajira and Mawa points.
The Padma Multipurpose Bridge project (PMBP) refrained from celebrating this great achievement to avoid gathering on project site.
Bridges secretary M Belayet Hossain and project director M Shafiqul Islam visited the site at 3:00 pm.
Bangladesh Bridges Authority, the executor of the Tk 301-billion project, in a statement said progress in bridge construction work is recorded at 91 per cent.
Overall progress in the project is now 82:5 per cent as river training work was completed by 75 per cent and approach roads by 100 per cent, it added.
Sources, however, said three to four stages of work are still to be done to make the entire bridge ready for traffic movement.
The PMBP has revised its deadline for completing the bridge by December 2021 from June 2021.
Since its beginning in 2014, the project has gone through multiple challenges like design fault, leading its project office to revise design of 14 piers.
However, the deadline for completion is expected to revise further for the fallout of coronavirus pandemic and floods on the project work.
Sources said 1,333 out of 2,917 roadway slabs and 1,942 out of 2,959 railway slabs were placed on the bridge.
After completion of slab work, the contractor has to complete carpeting work, gas and electricity work to ready the bridge for traffic movement.
The bridge is likely to bring a significant impact on economic activity through establishing a direct link with south and south-western regions.
It is also a part of the Asian Highway and Trans Asian rail link for having a link with Mongla seaport.

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