Padma eats up bridge construction site again
A large part of a construction yard for the Padma Bridge project has been swallowed by the strong currents of the mighty Padma, yesterday, barely four days after a jetty, link road, and a temporary concrete plant belonging to the project were devoured by the river.
An area, measuring 100 metres in length, collapsed suddenly into the river and a trawler with sand geo bags, as well as jetty number three, were washed away at early hours on Wednesday.
Besides, huge quantity of construction material and a part of the shed over the construction yard were also washed away.
It is now being apprehended that there will be major erosion around the construction zone for the Padma Bridge and the authorities are continuously dumping hundreds of geo bags filled with sand, to salvage the situation.
Meanwhile, shipping minister Shajahan Khan, yesterday, visited the erosion spot and project areas.
Its a serious erosion and the bridges minister has taken initiatives to protect the erosion, the minister told reporters, while visiting the spot.
The department concerned has already started dredging, to keep the Shimulia-Kewrakandi ferry route operational, he added.
Our Munshiganj correspondent reports, citing Padma Bridge construction authorities, that at least 13 lakh sandbags will be dumped to protect the project area from erosion.
Despite erosion, construction work on the Padma Multi-purpose Bridge (PMB) is going on.
The executive engineer for the PMB project, Dewan Abdul Kader, said yesterdays erosion was just to the east of the 250 square metre stretch that was washed away by the river on Sunday.
All initiatives have been taken to prevent fresh erosion, he said, adding they had managed to tame the erosion four days back using sandbags and bamboo poles.
The construction yard, a kilometre off the main bridge area, was first hit by erosion triggered by strong currents, on June 27.
The Padma has risen another 10 cms to flow just eight cms below the danger level, in the last 24 hours.
Water is flowing 11 cms above the red line, at Bhaggyakul point.
Meanwhile, dredging of the Shimulia-Kewrakandi ferry route started yesterday morning. Ferry services had been suspended for the last six days, as depth of water had decreased below the 7.5 feet threshold.
Ferry operations on the route, known as the gateway to southern Bangladesh, has been hampered for the last two weeks, due to sedimentation at the Louhajong turning point.
BIWTC deputy general manager Ashekuzzaman said only two utility vessels could ply on the route plagued with navigability crisis. All of the other 16 vessels, including four Ro-Ro ferries, could not operate due to lack of draft.
A 12-member team of specialists and officials of Chinese contractor Sino Hydro Company conducted a survey on Tuesday, to determine the future course of action.
Officials said nearly 300,000 cubic metres of silt would initially be removed from the channel, using two big dredgers brought in from the Padma Bridge project.
BIWTA executive engineer (dredging) Md Sultan Uddin Ahmed Khan said, Well need to dredge out 2.2 million cubic metres of silt from the total passage. Well take out 200,000-300,000 cubic metres, from Louhajong turning point at first.
