The Padma Bridge will be opened for traffic in June 2021, said Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Thursday. “The construction work of Padma Bridge is progressing fast as 73 percent of work of the project has already been completed,” he told reporters at his Secretariat office.
Earlier in the morning, Finance Division and Bangladesh Bridge Authority signed an agreement on the payment of the loan of the Padma Bridge in his presence. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate it in June 2021, he said, adding 83 percent of the bridge’s main work has already been completed.
The 6.15-kilometre Padma Bridge, a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River, is Bangladesh’s largest infrastructure project till date. The Bridge will connect Louhajong, Munshiganj to Shariatpur and Madaripur, linking the south-west of the country, to northern and eastern regions. Padma Bridge is the most challenging construction project in the history of Bangladesh.
Quader, also Awami League General Secretary, said out of the 42 piers, the work of 31 piers has been completed. “The work on the rest 11 peers is now going on in full swing. Some 15 spans have been installed at Mawa site. And the work on main structure of the Bridge will be completed within next year,” Obaidul Quader said.
Around 2100 metres of the bridge is now visible as the 14th span (superstructure) of the 6.15-km bridge was installed at Jazira point in Shariatpur in June. A total of 41 spans will be installed on 42 concrete pillars to complete the bridge, he added.
On October 14, 2018, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the name plaque of Padma Bridge Toll Plaza at the Mawa end. According to experts, the national economy is expected to witness 1.2 percent GDP growth rate, while 0.84 percent poverty will be reduced every year after completion of the construction of the bridge at a cost of Taka 30,193.39 crore. The first span of the Padma Bridge was installed on September 30, 2017. The second span was installed four months later on January 28, 2018 while the third one was placed on March 11, after one and a half months.