JICA funds likely for widening, renovating 200 bridges

Munima Sultana | Published: August 06, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Japan has hinted at financing a bridge improvement project to widen and renovate nearly 200 bridges in the country's western zone.
The fund will help the government fine-tune those with its future plan of turning four-lane national highways, officials said.
They said a mission of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) identified the Western Bridge Improvement Project to be a prospective one in its 36th Official Development Assistance (ODA) programme at the end of its visit last month.
They said the mission also signed minutes of meeting with the Economic Relations Division (ERD) after reviewing the project's preparatory work.
The JICA is now assisting the government to widen and improve 118 bridges in the eastern zone of the country under the Eastern Bridge Improvement Project. These bridges either turned unfit or mismatched with the new road network.
Sources said the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) undertook the Western Bridge Improvement Project in 2013 to upgrade 187 existing bridges located in Barisal, Khulna, Gopalganj, Rajshahi and Rangpur zones.
After minutes of discussion (MOD) signed with the Road Division of the Ministry of Communications last year, the JICA conducted a feasibility study on the bridges by appointing a consultant in September.
Sources said the JICA mission found the project economically viable and hinted at providing assistance to the project.
Though the preliminary development project proposal (PDPP) of the Western Bridge Improvement Project aimed at widening all the bridges into four lanes, sources said, negotiation is still on to convince the JICA to provide funds for all the bridges located in national, regional and zila roads.
The JICA study team categorised the bridges of the western zone in different levels and wanted to upgrade those accordingly.
The officials said due to the country's geopolitical location and economic expansion, majority road network has been facing traffic pressure calling for expansion of all the bridges.
The JICA is now assisting the Eastern Bridge Improvement Project under which 15 temporary bridges, 42 one-lane bridges and nine damaged two-lane bridges among over a hundred bridges in Dhaka, Sylhet, Comilla and Chittagong regions have been upgraded.
Though the project was supposed to be finished in 2012, it is still under implementation due to some technical reasons.
Officials said cost of the western bridge project has not yet been fixed in the PDPP and the DPP will be prepared after getting confirmation from the JICA.