SM Mizanur Rahman : The work of the main piling of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge likely to begin in December, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said on Saturday. “The construction work of the bridge would be completed as per schedule. The work of the main piling of the bridge will begin in December,” he told journalists after the secretary committee meeting at the office building (Service Area-1) of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge in Munshiganj. Apart from members of secretary committee, over 50 secretaries attended the meeting. The secretary committee usually sits at Secretariat but considering importance of Padma Bridge, the meeting was held outside the capital for the first time. The meeting began at about 10:00am and continued till 1:00pm. The bureaucrats later visited the project site at Kumarbhogh in Mawa area.Bridge Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam and Padma Bridge Project Director Shafiqul Islam placed progress and present state of the project in the meeting. Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said progress and work of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project were discussed widely in the meeting. “How and in what way the construction work of the bridge would be completed within the time-frame set by the government was also discussed in the meeting,” the Cabinet Secretary said.He termed the project as mega saying it needed coordination among all the Ministries. “We urged all concerned authorities to ensure the highest cooperation to complete the mega project in time,” the Cabinet Secretary said. He said if the situation remains favourable, it is expected that the construction work of the bridge would be completed before the schedule. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the work of the piling of the main bridge and river training, he said, adding the date of inauguration has not been fixed yet. He, however, said the work of the main piling of the bridge has been delayed due to erosion.The two-tier Padma Bridge having provisions for movements of vehicles on the upper tier of the bridge and operation of trains in the lower tier would be built with concrete and steel structure.After completion of the 6.15-kilometre bridge, designed to carry a highway and rail line, will connect 19 southern districts with the capital. China Major Bridge Engineering Construction Company was appointed to construct the main bridge. South Korea’s Korean Expressway and the Bangladesh Army are supervising the work.According to Bridges Division sources, necessary equipments, including dredger for river training, have already reached the project site and the technical committee and concerned engineers in this respect are now staying at the Jajira side of the bridge.Around 43 per cent construction work of approach roads between Jajira and Mawa sides have already been completed. The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) procured three Test Pile Drives, four Pile Testers and 18 Anchor Drives.Some 12,400 tonnes of steel plate have been delivered to the project site, another 9,000 tonnes are scheduled to arrive shortly from Chittagong Port and a further 7,000 tonnes is on its way from China.Expenditure on the Padma Bridge project has been sluggish, with 34.86% spent in the last three years, and the implementation of the main bridge has been minimal at just 13.5% as of August 15, according to official estimates.According to official data, accumulated spending on the Padma Bridge hits Tk 8,366.65 crore as of the middle of August this year.In FY2015-16, the government allocated Tk 7,400 crore for the project while the Bridges Division disbursed Tk 1,796.02 crore as of August 15.Total project costs increased to 24,000 crore from Tk 20,507.20 crore, due to delays in implementing the project.According to the Fast Track Project Monitoring Committee at the Prime Minister’s Office, about 13.5% of the main construction work of the Padma Bridge had been completed.Meanwhile, a total of 1,331 plots have already been distributed to families affected by the construction of the 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 as of August and a contract will be signed between the Padma Bridge construction authorities and the Zoology Department at Dhaka University to build a museum.
