After the grand opening of the Padma Bridge, the country is set to see the inauguration of three other major bridges in three to four months, which is expected to give a big boost to the internal communication and beyond.
The new bridges — Bekutia Bridge in Pirojpur, Kalna Bridge in Narail and 3rd Shitalakhya Bridge in Narayanganj — are being built under the network of Roads and Highways Department (RHD).
The Road Transport and Highways Division in its last monthly meeting on June 12 asked the RHD to take necessary steps for inauguration ceremonies as the construction of the bridges had neared completion.
The latest development is the construction of Bekutia Bridge, formally known as 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge, is done. The authorities have started preparation for inaugurating the bridge, which will establish direct road link between Barishal city and Pirojpur.
The construction of Kalna Bridge, the first six-lane bridge in the country, is expected to be completed next month. This aesthetically beautiful bridge, which will fill up the last missing link of Asian Highway-1 route, will be ready for use in September.
The 3rd Shitalakhya Bridge, the long-delayed project, will establish direct road link between Narayanganj city and Bandar upazila. It is expected to be ready for use in October.
“Once the three bridges are opened to traffic, it will increase the efficiency of RHD’s network further,” said Shishir Kanti Routh, RHD’s additional chief engineer responsible for the Bridge Management Wing.
He said the “continuous twin box girder” structure has been used for the Shitalakhya Bridge, for the first time in the country, while the Kalna Bridge is the longest “arch bridge” in Bangladesh.
“So, with the construction of the bridges, the RHD has gained the experience of long-span bridge construction technology, which will have positive impacts on future projects,” he told The Daily Star last week.
RHD is building the bridges with foreign loans and grants.
BEKUTIA BRIDGE
RHD in October 2017 undertook the project to build the bridge over the Kacha river. Currently, people have to use ferries to cross the river.
The cost of the project is Tk 894 crore, of which China will provide Tk 654 crore as grant and thus the bridge is named 8th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge.
However, physical works of the project started in July 2018.
The main structure of the 1,493m bridge, with 495m viaduct, became fully visible in December last year.
“All works of the bridge are done now and it’s ready for opening,” Project Director Abdul Awal Molla told this newspaper on July 5.
First, the Chinese Embassy in Dhaka will hand over the bridge to the road authorities, which is expected to be done soon, he said. “We have also started the process for inauguration ceremony too.”
The bridge will not only establish Pirojpur’s direct connection with Barishal city, it will also connect Barishal with Khulna.
Mongla port and the under-construction Payra port would be also connected by the bridge, and the travel from Khulna and other western parts of the country to Kuakata, a top tourist destination, will be easier, he said.
KALNA BRIDGE
RHD in May 2016 took up a project titled Cross-Border Road Network Improvement Project with a soft loan from Japan.
The Kalna Bridge over the Madhumati river, which is among 17 bridges being constructed under the Tk 3,745.51-crore project, will cut short the travel time between Dhaka and Jashore.
People are now using ferries to cross the river at Kalna.
The physical work of the 690m bridge started in November 2018 at the cost of Tk 959.45 crore. “We hope the work would be completed within August and the bridge would be readied for opening in September,” said Project Director Shyamal Kumar Bhattacharyya.
This is a Nielsen-Lohse arch type steel bridge, which is 27.10m wide, and the first six-lane bridge of the country, he added.
The Asian Highway-1 route, connecting Assam with West Bengal of India via Sylhet-Dhaka-Narail-Jashore, earlier had two missing links: one is the Padma Bridge and another Kalna Bridge. The Padma Bridge was opened to traffic last month.
“With the opening of the Kalna Bridge, the last missing link will also be disappeared,” he told The Daily Star on June 6.
He said the length of the route from Dhaka to Jashore via Gabtoli-Paturia-Daulatdia-Magura-Jashore is 218km. It will be only 160km via Jatrabari-Padma Bridge-Klana Bridge.
3RD SHITALAKHYA BRIDGE
The Shitalakhya river separates Bandar upazila from the Narayanganj district headquarters.
The only direct road connection is through the Kanchpur Bridge (Shitalakhya-1 Bridge), which currently requires nearly 30km of travel, according to RHD documents.
Once is the four-lane bridge with walkways is opened to public, commuters will have to travel less than two kilometre to reach Narayanganj city from Bandar upazila.
RHD in November 2010 initiated the bridge project with Saudi Arabia’s funding. But it took over seven years to hire consultants and contractors before the physical works started in late 2017.
All major works for the 1234.5m bridge with 834.5m viaduct were done and works for installing lights and building walkways were going on now, Project Director Shoaib Ahmed said on July 5.
“The bridge would be readied for use at the first partof October,” he told The Daily Star.
He said the bridge will not only connect Bandar upazila with Narayanganj Sadar but also would work as an alternative route to connect Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway (N-8) with Dhaka-Chattogram Highway (N-1), without touching the capital.
Currently, vehicles reach N-1 from N-8 through Jatrabari area in the capital.
But the bridge will connect N-1 with N-8 through Madangonj-Syedpur-Mukterpur-Munshigonj-Tongibari-Louhajong road.
The project director said the bridge also fill up the missing link of a proposed outer ring road around the capital.
[Photos: Sanad Saha/Collected]
