With the installation of the 36thspanin the river, a length of 5,400 meters of the Padma Bridge is now clearly visible. Only five spans are now left to complete the main structure construction of the bridge.
On Friday morning, with the combined efforts of local and foreign engineers, the ‘1B’ span was installed at the Mawa end of Munshiganj, confirmed the project executive engineer Dewan Abdul Quader. On the sixth day after installationof the 35thspan, installation of the 36thspan was successful.
With the rapid installation of the spans, the much-awaited Padma Bridge is now 5.4 kilometers visible. If the situation stays normal, by the end of next month all the spans will be installed gradually, said the project officials.
Meanwhile, on Thursday at around 10 am, a floating crane carrying the span set off from the jetty of the construction yard at Mawa in Louhjong, Munshiganj. The crane with a capacity of 3,600 tons reached the desired pillar at around noon. It took a long time to reach the destination as there was not enough depth somewhere along the river bank. As it took too much time to reach near the pillars, span installation was postponed till Friday morning.
According to the project schedule, the rest of the five spans will be installed on the following days. On November 11, 37 (2C) span over pillar 9 and 10, 38 span will install on November 16, 39 span on November 23, 40th span on December 2, and 41 span will be installed on December 10.
China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Company Limited, a Chinese contractor, is constructing the main bridge while another Chinese company, Sino Hydro Corporation, is working on river training. Abdul Momen Limited of Bangladesh is constructing the approach roads on both the sides of the bridge.
Apart from installing spans on the bridge, other works on the bridge are also progressing fast. Of these, 1166 out of 2917 roadway slabs and more than 1646 out of 2959 railway slabs have been installed. Of the 484 Super-T girders on both sides of the bridge, 258 have been installed.