With 30th span, 4.5km of Padma Bridge now visible

About 4.5 kilometres of the much-anticipated Padma Bridge has become visible with the installation of its 30th span on Saturday amid the shutdown enforced to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The span linking the 26th and 27th pillars of the bridge was installed at the Jajira point around 9:45 am, Project Director Shafiqul Islam told The Business Standard.

He said the rainy season was coming so it would be hard to work in June. However, one or two spans might be installed by the next month. 

The project authorities said the 31st span among total 41 of the bridge would be installed by June 20. 

The 29th span of the Padma Bridge was installed earlier this month.

The Padma bridge project was initiated in July 2007 with an estimated cost of Tk10,162crore and was supposed to be completed by August 2015. But work actually began in 2014 after a long delay.

The project cost, in the meantime, went up several times to stand finally at Tk30,193crore.

The Bridges Division has spent Tk22,209crore, which is 73.55 percent of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project's total budget until April 2020.

Once in operation, the Padma Bridge, the country's largest infrastructure project till date, will connect 21 southern districts with the capital and boost the GDP by one percent.