4 km of Padma Bridge now visible after installation of 27th span

About 4,050 metres of the much-hyped Padma Bridge became visible after the installation of its 27th span on Saturday.

Md Murad Quader, deputy assistant engineer of the Padma Bridge Project,  said the work on Padma bridge is underway despite the crisis over coronavirus pandemic. 

The 5-F span, weighing 3,140 tonnes, was installed on pillar no 27 and 28 of the bridge around 9:20am.

Earlier, the 150-meter long span was brought near pillar no 28 by a floating crane to Shariatpur point from Maowa point at 10am on Friday.

It was scheduled to install the 27th span on March 31 but it has been possible to install the span before the deadline. 

"We are working to install two more spans within the mid of April," the engineer added.

According to the Padma Bridge authorities, after the instalment of 27th span, it is needed to install 14 more spans to make the whole 6.15 km Padma Bridge visible.

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 boost the GDP by 1 percent.