Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has unveiled the main construction work on the much-talked-about Padma Bridge.Sheikh Hasina on Saturday morning inaugurated at Shariatpur’s Jajira the river training works of the Tk 230 billion project, the largest ever self-financed project taken up by Bangladesh.The government hopes to open the bridge to traffic in 2018. It will have a railroad as well.Once completed, the multipurpose bridge will establish direct road communication between Dhaka and 21 southern districts of the country.China’s Sinohydro Corporation Ltd will carry out this vital part of the project at a cost of nearly Tk 87.08 billion. The prime minister’s departure from Dhaka by helicopter was delayed by one hour due to heavy fog earlier in the morning.She arrived at Jajira’s Naodoba Mouja around 11:45am and then inaugurated the river training works by unveiling the foundation plaque.Hasina also addressed a public rally there. She visited the site of the pilling work of the seventh out of the 42 pillars. Apart from connecting the southern region with the western, the Padma bridge will also be a part of the proposed Asian Highway route.