Staff Reporter :A large portion of the construction yard of the Padma Bridge project site at Kumarbhog of Louhajang upazila has been devoured by fresh erosion in the Padma river.The latest erosion had engulfed the shed of the construction yard and huge construction materials posing a threat to starting of construction of the multi-billion taka project.Officials said about 80 square metre area of the Padma Bridge construction yard in Louhajang’s Kumarbhog was washed away by strong river currents on Tuesday night. Another 20 metre area of the yard went under water by erosion at 8:00 am on Wednesday. Preliminary protection measures were taken to check the erosion with huge bamboos and Geo bags, the officials said. Just four days ago on Sunday night, a 200 metre portion of area in the Padma Bridge project, including the link road and a temporary concrete plant of the project, were devoured by the river.Meanwhile, in Tuesday late night’s erosion, one jetty, one walkway to the jetty and a temporary plant at the yard also went into the river bed. Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, however, hoped that the erosion would not hamper the construction work. “The test piling work for the Padma Bridge is going on and the main piling work will begin in October,” the Minister said.”The erosion was just to the east of the 250 square metre stretch eroded on Sunday. We are trying to tame theerosion using sandbags and bamboos. We are doing all our best to arrest the fresh erosion,” Dewan Abdul Kader, Executive Engineer of the project, said. The construction yard, one kilometre from the main bridge area, was first hit by the erosion, triggered by strong currents, on June 27. According to Flood Forecasting Warning Centre, the Padma River has risen another 10cm to flow just eight cm below the danger level in the last 24 hours. Dredging of Shimulia-Kawrakandi ferry route started yesterday morning.Earlier on June 27, massive erosion started in the Padma which devoured some 100-metre long and 50-metre wide area, one kilometre behind the Padma Bridge project, at Kumarbhog of Mawa point.Meanwhile, the ferry operations on the route have also been hampered for the last two weeks due to sedimentation at the Louhajang turning point where water-depth has decreased below the required 7.5 feet.”Two small K-type ferries could only cruise on the route plagued with navigability crisis. All of the other 16 vessels, including four Ro-Ro ferries, could not operate,” BIWTA Assistant Manager Shekhar Chandra Roy said.Officials said nearly 300,000 cubic metres of silt would initially be removed from the channel using two big dredgers brought in from the Padma Bridge project. A 12-member team of specialists and officials of Chinese contractor Sino Hydro Company conducted a survey on Tuesday to fix the future course of action, they said. “We will have to dredge out 2.2 million cubic metres of silt from the total passage. We will take out 200,000-300,000 cubic metres from Louhajang turning point at first,” BIWTA Executive Engineer (Dredging) Md Sultan Uddin Ahmed Khan said.
