Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the much-awaited second Meghna Bridge and the second Gumti Bridge on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway on Saturday, reports BSS.
“The prime minister will open the bridges through a videoconference from her official Ganabhaban residence tomorrow,” Prime Minister’s Office sources said.
Talking to BSS, Abu Saleh Md Nuruzzaman, Project Director of the Kanchpur, Meghna and Gumti second Bridges Construction and Existing Bridges Rehab Project, said with the newly-built Kanchpur Bridge already in operation, the two new additions are expected to bring relief to travelers on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, especially during this Eid holidays.
Previously, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Second Kanchpur Bridge on the river Shitalakkhya on Mar 16.
Nuruzzaman said Japanese contractors Obayshi Corporation, Shimizu Corporation, JFE Engineer Corporation, and IHI Infra Systems Company Limited started the constructions of the second Kanchpur bridge along with the second Meghna and second Meghna-Gumti bridges on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway in January 2016.
The total estimated cost of the three bridges was at Taka 8,487 crore, of which Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) provided Tk 64.3 billion.
The cost of the project may be over Tk 10 billion less than what was estimated, he added.
As per the contract, the project director said, the Japanese firms began work in January 2016 and it was scheduled to be complete within June 2019.
“But progress of the work was halted for around four months after the Holey Artisan attack in July 2016,” he said.
He added that the government extended the deadline for six months by fixing December 2019.
“But, the construction of the bridges has been completed around seven months before,” he added.
Nuruzzaman said that the work on the around 400-metre new Kanchpur bridge, with cost of Tk 9.5 billion was completed in December 2017.
“The new Kanchpur bridge is two metres wider than the old one. The authority has already started restoration work on the old bridge,” he added.
He said the construction work of the new 930-metre Meghna and 1,410-metre Gumti bridges was completed with a cost of Taka 17.5 billion and Tk 19.5 billion respectively.
Nuruzzaman said that the overpass on the east end of Kanchpur Bridge will be opened to public on May 31 to ease Eid journey.