The Padma Bridge is expected to be completed by 2020 and is likely to be opened to traffic in June 2021. Seventy-three per cent of the construction work has so far been completed. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to inaugurate the bridge in June 2021. This was stated by road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader after signing a loan repayment agreement for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge (PMB) project at the Secretariat yesterday (Thursday). The loan repayment agreement was between the Finance Division and the Bangladesh Bridge Authority. Director of the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (finance and accounting), Dr Md Moniruzzaman, and additional secretary of the

Finance Division, Md Ekhlasur Rahman, signed the agreement. “Construction work of the Padma Bridge is going on in full swing. The pile driving work of the main bridge has been completed, and 31 out of 42 piers have been installed. The rest will be done within December this year,” Quader said.

A total of 27 spans (superstructure) have been brought to the Mawa end and 14 of them have been installed, the minister said. “We will be able to open the bridge for plying of vehicles Insha Allah. We hope Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the bridge in 2021. The bridge will be completed by December 2020 and it would take 3 to 5 months to be ready for traffic,” he said.

The actual work done of the PMB construction project is 83 per cent and the financial progress 72 per cent, Quader said, adding that the overall progress is 73 per cent. The minister also said the government has lent Tk. 29,894 crore to the BBA through the Finance Division for construction of the bridge. It will repay the loan within 35 years at one per cent interest rate.

As per the agreement, the BBA will start repaying the loan from the 2021-22 fiscal year, the minister said. “A maximum of Tk. 1,475 crore or a minimum of Tk. 826 crore will have to be paid to the Finance Division or the government by the BBA as per the loan repayment schedule per fiscal year. The BBA will have to repay the total loan of Tk. 29,894 crore by the 2033-34 fiscal year,” said Quader.

The 6.15km bridge is Bangladesh’s largest infrastructure project till date. Once in operation, the bridge is expected to boost the GDP by 1.2 per cent.

A total of 2,959 pre-cast slabs will be needed for laying rail tracks, Quader said, adding that a total of 2,754 slabs have already been completed.

Besides, 2,917 pre-cast roadway deck-slabs will be needed for roads, and 1,269 have already been prepared, he added.

“The actual progress of river treatment work is 62 per cent. A 14-km stretch will have to be treated. Of this, 6.60km has been completed. It would be needed 8,707.81 crore as per the agreement in this regard. Of the total cost, 4,184.40 crore has been spent for river treatment,” Quader said.

He also said road links with the PMB is one hundred per cent complete. Around 2,100 metres of the bridge is now visible as the 14th span (superstructure) of the 6.15km bridge was installed at Jazira point in Shariatpur on June 29, 2019. The first span was installed on September 30, 2017.

Work on installing girders is currently going on at Mawa and Janjira points. When constructed, the bridge will connect the capital to 21 southern districts by road and railways.