No info so far on sabotage centring Padma Bridge opening: RAB DG

Chowdhury Abdullah al Mamun, director general of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), has said that they got no hint on any attack or sabotage centring the opening of Padma Bridge.

"However, law enforcers are on alert," the RAB DG said after visiting the rally spot in Shibchar of Madaripur on Wednesday (22 June).

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.