The Padma Multipurpose Bridge is no more a dream. It is rather now a dream comes true as work is going on round the clock to complete the 6.15-kilometre bridge. The bridge is designed to carry a highway and rail line, which connects 19 southern districts with the capital. On Wednesday, within a span of a week of installing the 18th span, the 19th span of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge was installed at Mawa point making 2.85 kilometres visible out of total 6.15km of the main structure of the bridge. Earlier on December 11, the 18th span was installed. And the 20th span will be installed within this month.
A total of 19 spans out of 33, which have come from China, have been installed. A total of 41 spans will be installed on 42 concrete pillars to complete the bridge. The first span of the Padma Bridge was installed on September 30, 2017. Talking to journalists Humayun Kabir, assistant engineer, said the 19th span was installed at about 1.30 pm.
“With the installation of 19 spans so far, the construction work of about 2850 meters of the main structure of this mega bridge has been completed,” said Engineer Humayun Kabir of the bridge project. On November 26, the 17th span of the bridge was installed on the 22nd and the 23rd pillars.
Along with the spans installation, construction work of roadway slabs and railway slabs is also progressing simultaneously, the officials said. According to the project details, the construction of the 6.15-kilometre long Padma Bridge is going on in full swing with the target to complete it as soon as possible.
On October 14, 2018, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the name plaque of Padma Bridge Toll Plaza at the Mawa end. Earlier on December 12, 2015 she inaugurated the Padma Bridge. Since then, the dream bridge project is now in the process of being materialised.
The Padma Bridge is expected to boost the country's economy. According to experts, the national economy is expected to witness 1.2 percent GDP growth rate, while 0.84 percent poverty will be reduced every year after the completion of the bridge to be built with an estimated cost of Taka 30,193.39 crore.
About a quarter of the country's population living in the southwest region will directly benefit from the 6.15-kilometre bridge as the travel time to and from Dhaka city will be cut short to about one-fourth of what it is now. Besides, construction of Padma multipurpose bridge gained new momentum after installation of the first roadway slab for vehicular movement in March.
Local and foreign engineers successfully installed a roadway slab on the 7F span between 41st and 42nd piers at Jajira point, project officials informed. With the installation of the two-metre wide and 22-metre long 7F-U33 slab, the work of constructing a four-lane road on the 6.15km under-construction bridge started.
The engineers of China Major Bridge Engineering Company (MBEC), the contractor of the bridge, and local engineers managed to install the slab in the morning without any hassle. Project officials informed that full-fledged work of roadway slab installation would start from Wednesday. These slabs are actually pre-cast slabs which will now go through a tensioning process.
Those will be fixed after reaching the highest tension level of the rod so that they don’t move in future. The roadway slabs will be ready to use for vehicles after completion of a few more steps, he also informed. Some 74 such slabs will be laid at the upper deck of a 150-metre long span.
A total of 2,931 such slabs will be installed on the bridge. So far, 500 roadway slabs are ready to be installed at Kumarvogh construction yard at Mawa point, the bridges authority officials informed. Meanwhile, 192 railway slabs out of 2959 have already been installed on the lower deck of the installed spans. A total of 1,520 railway slabs are now ready.
Within two or three days the ninth span is expected to be installed at Jajira point, which will make 1,350 metres of the bridge visible. The bridge construction started from December 2015 and was supposed to be complete by last December, but work faced a severe setback after soft soil level was found under some pier-points.
Recently, foreign consultants and local experts have resolved the problem and handed over new designs of the piers to the contractor, removing hurdles to the construction work. Now, project officials expect to open the bridge for the public at the end of 2020. Meanwhile, according to the environment impact assessment (EIA) report for the bridge project, the migration of hilsa will be seriously hampered during construction as a result of mechanical disturbances.
As reported, there might be some adverse effects on the fish habitat particularly of hilsa even after the completion and commissioning of the Padma Bridge. In order to minimise the side effects of the project, I think our national experts, in consultation with reputed international experts, should take appropriate measures.
