Experts, engineers from 20 countries worked for Padma Bridge: PM

Experts and engineers from 20 countries, including Bangladesh worked on the Padma Bridge project, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said today.

"Padma Bridge was built on the efforts of thousands of people. Apart from Bangladesh, experts and engineers from China, India, USA, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, Denmark, Italy, Malaysia, Colombia, Philippines, Taiwan, Nepal and South Africa worked on the project," the premier said during a press briefing on Wednesday (22 June).

"I had proposed to the Japanese government about building bridges over the rivers Padma and Rupsa during my visit to Japan in 1997. The Japanese government supported the proposal," she added. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that some economists and intellectuals of the country had been criticising the Padma Bridge project on made-up assumptions.

"I announced about building the Padma Bridge on Bangladesh's own funding on 9 June, 2012 during a cabinet meeting. All international investors had said that they wouldn't fund the project," she said.

The PM added: "I would like to thank the countrymen for supporting me. Padma Bridge has been possible because of their support."

The two-decade journey of the Padma Bridge dream will finally come to a close on 10am on 25 June when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the mega infrastructure. The move will change the fortunes of 19 districts in the south and south-west of the country.

Starting in 1999 with a pre-feasibility study, construction of the bridge, which has since generated numerous headlines, has had its share of delays and even courted controversy.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had rejected the Bridges Division's proposal to name the long awaited bridge after her.

The construction of the 6.15 kilometre bridge was supposed to start in 2015, but cancellation of foreign aid for it and an increasing depth of the river, among other complications, delayed the work.

According to sources, the Bridges Division is going to organise nationwide celebrations to commemorate the inauguration of the Padma Bridge, the country's largest infrastructure. The main event will be held at Mawa and Jajira on both sides of the Padma Bridge.

The Padma Bridge project is being implemented at a cost of Tk30,193.39 crore with almost 100% internal funding.