DHAKA, – Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said the plying of vehicles will begin on the Padma Bridge by June 2021.
“The Padma Bridge Project has witnessed an overall 73 percent progress. The way the works of the project continue, the construction work of the
bridge will be completed by 2020. Additional 5-6 months will be required to complete the remaining works,” he said.
Quader, also general secretary of Awami League, was talking to reporters at an agreement signing ceremony at the Secretariat here.
The Finance Division and Bangladesh Bridge Authority signed an agreement on the payment of the loan of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge at the Secretariat in presence of the minister.
On behalf of their respective sides, director (finance) of Bangladesh Bridge Authority Dr Md Moniruzzaman and additional secretary of the Finance
Division Md Ekhlasur Rahman signed the agreement. The road transport and bridges minister said the construction work of the Padma Bridge is progressing fast.
“A total of 31 pillars of the main bridge out of 42 have already been installed. We hope that the remaining 11 pillars will be constructed by
December this year,” he added.
Mentioning that pile driving work of the main bridge has already been completed, Quader said some 27 spans of the bridge have brought to Mawa site
and of those, 14 spans were installed.
The government provided a loan of Taka 29,893 crore to Bangladesh Bridge Authority through the Finance Division to implement the Padma Bridge project.
Once the bridge project is completed, the bridge authority will pay the loan money with one percent interest to the government from its income.
As per the loan agreement, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority will start paying loan to the government from fiscal 2021-22. The time period of paying loan is 35 years. The bridge authority will pay minimum Taka 826 crore to maximum Taka 1,475 crore in every fiscal.
Bridge Division Senior Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary Md Nzarul Islam, Finance Division Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder, and senior officials of the Bridge Division, the Road Transport and Highways Division and the Finance Division were present on the occasion.
