SM Mizanur Rahman :A dream of country’s people, particularly the southwestern, is going to come true as the construction work of the main piling and river training of the two-tier Padma Multipurpose Bridge begins formally at Jajira in Shariatpur and Mawa in Munshiganj today (Saturday).”Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the work of the piling of the main bridge and river training work at Janjira in Shariatpur and Mawa in Munshiganj on Saturday morning,” said Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ehsanul Karim on Friday. Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, after visiting the construction site of the Padma Bridge at Janjira on Friday, said around 27 per cent works of the bridge have been completed so far.”We are expecting that work of 6.15-kilometre long Padma Bridge between Mawa of Munshiganj and Janjira of Shariatpur will be completed by 2018,” he said. The scenario of whole area of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project site has been changed with operation of large excavators and cranes, dump trucks, bulldozers, loaders and dredgers round the clock on both sides of the Padma at Mawa and Janjira.While workers are passing busy days and nights for building approach roads, piling, dredging and river training are going on in full swing at the site. Gigantic iron pipes of up to 120 metres in length are being made at the site.Huge cranes load the pipes into mega ships, which then carry those from Mawa’s Kumarbhog point to the piling sites.Cranes have been placed at different points for constructing approach roads, and also for piling and river training. Many dredgers are also in operation at different points of the river.The government is building the Padma Bridge, country’s largest infrastructure, with its own funds of Tk 28,000 crore. The work on the Padma Bridge is broadly divided into five parts-the main bridge, river training, two link roads and infrastructure (service area) construction.According to a ministry source, the design and land reclamation to construct a 160-km railway on both sides of the Padma from Dhaka to Jessore are also being carried out.The bridge will have a total of 42 pillars. Each will have six piles beneath. Steel spans will be placed on the pillars. The bridge will have a total of 41 spans.China’s Sinohydro Corporation was appointed for the river training work, while Bangladesh’s Abdul Monem Limited was given the contract for the two approach roads and infrastructure construction.Bangladesh Army, BUET and Korea Expressway Corporation and Associates are supervising the construction of the bridge expected to boost country’s trade, development and economic activities.After completion of the 6.15-kilometre bridge, designed to carry a highway and rail line, will connect 19 southern districts with the capital. The bridge will be constructed of concrete and steel.The project was initiated in 1998 when the Awami League was in power but it got stuck with the party’s defeat in 2001 national election.When the Awami League returned to power in 2009, it revived the initiative. At initial stage the World Bank proposed to fund much of the project. But raising question about alleged corruptions, all the financial donors, including World Bank, showed their back to this project.As a result it became a great challenge for the government to undertake a huge project like this. But braving all sorts of odds and problems, the construction work of Padma Bridge started with government’s internal fund.According to Bridges Division, necessary equipments, including dredger, for river training have already reached the project site and technical committee and concerned engineers in this respect are now staying at the Jajira side of the bridge.Meanwhile, a total of 1,331 plots have already been distributed to families affected by the construction mega-project. Some 2,592 plots will be distributed under the Padma Bridge rehabilitation programme. Another 362 plots have been distributed among landless peasants.The government has acquired 1,230.90 out of a proposed 1,599.85 hectares of land in Munshiganj, Madaripur and Shariatpur. Land rights have been established over 1,115.44 hectares of the project site.As part of the project’s environmental mitigation effort, some 67,550 trees have been planted and a contract will be signed between the Padma Bridge construction authorities and the zoology department at Dhaka University to build a museum.To ease communication between Dhaka and the bridge, a four-lane highway from Postogola to Mawa and a 13 km flyover from Bijoynagar to Dhaka-Mawa road will be constructed.Sheikh Hasina, also the AL, is scheduled to address a “Sudhi Samabesh” (civic rally) at Janjira point today morning, and a public meeting, to be organised by local AL at Khanbari in North Medini Mondal under Louhajang upazila in Munshiganj in the afternoon.
