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Work on Bangabandhu Railway Bridge to begin this year


Bangladeshpost
Published : 21 Jun 2019 09:18 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 10:10 PM

Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan on Friday said the construction work of ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge’ will begin this year. “We will start construction work of the railway bridge alongside Bangabandhu Bridge on the Jamuna River. The new railway connection will link 15 more districts,” the minister said while speaking at a programme organised by Buddhist Association Bangladesh at Fars Hotel and Resorts in the city.

The longest ever ‘Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Railway Bridge’ over Jamuna River is a dream project of the government. Total cost of the construction would be Tk 100 billion. The Minister said the government has taken a plan to build a double-gauge railway bridge, which will be 300-foot up from the Bangabandhu Bridge, funded by Japan.

“After completion of the railway bridge, it will be easy to increase the number of trains on Dhaka-northern region routes,” he said adding that the country’s 44 districts currently have railway connectivity at this moment. The construction of the 4.8km dual-gauge double-track bridge is scheduled to be completed by 2022. But one year will be needed for commercial run after completing a ‘defect liability’ test period.

On March 3, the government signed a consultancy deal with a Japanese company - Oriental Consultants Global Co Ltd., Japan, in a joint venture with Chodai Co Ltd., Japan and Development Design Consultants Ltd, Bangladesh and in association with ACE Consultants Ltd., Bangladesh for working out the detailed design, bid assistance and construction supervision.

“We have already undertaken many new projects. Besides, many new projects are also being undertaken. We have already conducted study on Dhaka-Chittagong high speed bullet train,” he said. He said all divisional and district towns would be brought under rail network.