5,100 meters of Padma Bridge visible now

Over five kilometres of the Padma Bridge has become visible with the installation of its 34th span on Sunday.

The ‘2E’span, weighing 3,150 tonnes, was installed on pillars no 7 and 8 at Mawa point in the morning, said Executive Engineer (Bridge) Dewan Md Abdul Quader.

The span was brought from Kumarbhog Construction Yard on Saturday, reports UNB.

Earlier, the 33rd span of the Padma multipurpose bridge was installed on October 19. Three spans were installed over the bridge in the current month.

Besides, the 35th span will be installed on no 2 and 3 pillar on October 30 and the authorities concerned have set a target to install all the spans within December.

A total of 42 pillars will be installed on the 6.5 kilometre bridge and 21 each will be installed on Mawa point and Shariatpur’s Jajira point while total 41 spans will be installed.

The construction work of Padma Bridge started in 2014.

The authorities concerned expect to complete the work of the multipurpose bridge within 2021

On January 20, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the bridge will be opened to traffic by 2021.

Once in operation, the Padma Bridge, Bangladesh’s largest infrastructure project till date, will connect 21 southern districts with the capital and is expected to boost the GDP by 1 percent.