Three bridges on Dhaka-Ctg highway receive JSCE award
MUNIMA SULTANA | Thursday, 20 May 2021
The newly-built Katchpur, Meghna and Gumti bridges on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway received an award from Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE).
According to the JSCE website, the construction and retrofitting project of the three bridges was selected in category II for contributing to civil engineering and social development of the country by using new application and technology.
Official sources said the project which faced obstruction and delays following the holey artisan attack in 2016 was completed in time in 2019 by using new application to address the scouring and technology for faster construction.
They said the Japanese consortium addressed the scouring through using steel pipe sheet pile application and time constraints through using narrow steel box girder instead of concrete girder.
Japanese contractors Obayshi Corporation, Shimizu Corporation, JFE Engineer Corporation, and IHI Infra Systems Company Limited started the construction of the second Kanchpur bridge along with the second Meghna and second Meghna-Gumti bridges on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in January 2016.
The total estimated cost of the three bridges was Tk 84.86 billion, of which Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) provided Tk 64.30 billion.
The project works were totally suspended for three months after the holey artisan attack in July 2016.
The new 400-metre bridge over Shitalakkhya river known as second Kanchpur bridge was inaugurated on March 16, 2019.
The 930-metre second Meghna bridge and 1,410-metre second Gumti bridge were inaugurated for traffic movement on May 25 last.
As per the contract with the Japanese firms, the construction work and retrofitting work of old bridges were to be completed in June 2019.
The bridges which are considered as economic lifeline of the country for connecting the Chattogram Port with the rest of the country, including the capital, has been playing a significant role in reducing unlimited traffic congestion and plight of travellers.