BSS, Gaibandha :
Construction of much awaited Teesta Bridge is going to begin very soon as the tender notice for the bridge construction has been floated in the national dailies recently.
Executive Engineer of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) Maksudul Alam disclosed it in a monthly meeting of district development coordination committee held at the conference room of deputy commissioner (DC) here on Sunday last with DC Gautam Chandra Pal in the chair.
Maksudul Alam said the 1490-metre long bridge would be constructed over the Teesta River between Horipurghat of Sundarganj upazila under Gaibandha district and Chilmari Kheyaghat point of Chilmari upazila under Kurigram district at the direct supervision of LGED.
The construction cost of the bridge had been earmarked at Tk 730.85 crore that would be provided by Saudi Fund for Development of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and government of Bangladesh, he also said.
Meanwhile, 68.34 hectares of land at Gaibandha point and 22.50 hectares of land at Kurigram point had been acquired for building connecting road at both sides of the bridge, he added.
A spacious road from the bridge would also be connected to Rangpur-Bogra Highway at Dhaperhat area under Sadullapur upazila via Laxipur-Sadullapur upazila town to avoid severe traffic jam in Gaibandha district town, he continued.
Earlier, the feasibility study to construct the bridge over the river was done by the experts of Water and Flood Management Institute of BUET led by Professor Sajib Kumar Bala and Professor Dr. Tariqul Islam in 2010 and 2011, local LGED officials said.
Based on the study, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally laid the foundation stone of the bridge through unveiling a plaque at Shah Abdul Hamid Stadium in Gaibandha town on January 25, 2014 as the chief guest, they said.
Three years and nine months after laying down the foundation stone of the bridge, the tender notice had been published in national dailies recently and the contractors had been invited to participate in the tender through maintaining official procedures.
Hearing the tender notice publication in the dailies, the people of Gaibandha and Kurigram including Lalmonirhat are so much happy as their much awaited dream of bridge is going to be fulfilled soon.
Talking to the BSS, executive engineer of LGED Maksudul Alam said the PC girder bridge would have 30 pillars and the construction work of the bridge would start very soon.
