The final decision about the new design of the bridge at Kalurghat in Chattogram will be finalized in May. The height of the bridge changes with the complexity of the design. As a result, everything has to be done anew, including financing. As a result, the donor agency Korean Exim Bank was given the responsibility of re-examining the survey.
They will submit the survey report and details design after the feasibility study of the new bridge in May. After submitting the survey report, it will be known in which design and at what cost the new Kalurghat Bridge will be built to speed up the railway in the tourist city of Cox's Bazar.
The engineering department of the railways said besides the paper work for the construction of the new bridge, the renovation work of the old bridge is also underway. After a new feasibility study, it will take several more years for the construction of the new bridge to become visible, after inviting tenders, approval of the planning committee, and passing various stages including ECNEC.
A team of BUET experts is working to increase the traffic flow on the dilapidated old bridge to keep pace with the Cox's Bazar railway through Kalurghat for a long time. Following their proposal, the Railways will call for tenders for the repair of the bridge next month.
Railway Eastern Additional Chief Engineer (Bridges) Md Ahsan Jabir said, “The feasibility report is expected to be submitted by the end of May. Only then the design and cost of the bridge will be known. After submitting the report, it will be understood how much land has to be acquired including Jan Ali Hat station area.”
According to railway sources, the Korean Exim Bank, which was commissioned to survey the new Kalurghat bridge, in its presentation to the Railways, showed several designs including construction of a new bridge at Kalurghat, another connected tunnel on the Karnafhuli river and an elevated bridge.
However, since the government’s focus is only on the bridge, they have asked the survey verification body to focus on that. However, after submitting the survey report at the end of next May, it will be clear what kind of bridge is being built for the people of Kalurghat. However, the length of the new bridge will be about four kilometers, including the viaduct (the upper part of the land) and the main bridge. In order to maintain the navigability of the Karnafhuli River, work will be started to construct a new bridge at a height of 12.2 meters from the railway line height from Jan Ali Hat station. After the feasibility study, it will be confirmed how much land will be acquired in the next 4 km from Jan Ali Hat station.
Earlier in 2018, the proposed project for a new bridge at Kalurghat cost Tk 1,151.88 crore. Although the financing and design was finalized later, the project was stopped due to the objection of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA). Finally, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authorities concerned to build a road bridge with rail connection. Then the second Kalurghat bridge project started.
Following this, a meeting was held at the Ministry of Railways with the Bangladesh representatives of the Economic Development Co-operation Fund (EDCF), a Korean donor organization on May 19 in 2020. The EDCF confirmed the financing of the new bridge there. Then in November last year, the company hired a consulting firm to start the work of feasibility study and detailed design.
