The Padma Bridge, one of the government’s mega projects, is likely to be complete by Jun 30, 2021, say people involved with the project.
“All the work is continuing as per schedule,” said Dewan Abdul Quader, executive engineer and project manager told Bangla Tribune.
He added that progress of the bridge was 85 percent while river training progress was 66 percent. The overall progress of the project was 75.50 percent and work for the connecting road and service area was complete.
The progress of the main bridge was 81.60 percent costing over Tk 121 billion among which Tk 97.5 billion has been spent till December 2019, he said.
Quader added that the contract amount for river training was Tk 87 billion among which half has already been spent.
Moreover, 43.4 billion has been spent for land acquisition and rehabilitation, while panel of expert, consultants, army security, VAT and taxes, salaries and other miscellaneous expenses stood at over Tk 35 billion.
The budget for the entire is project contracted to China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Company Ltd is over Tk 300 billion among which 213 billion has been spent.
Meanwhile, the 20th span of the Padma Bridge will be installed at the 18-19 pier at the Mawa end on Tuesday (Dec 30).
Abdul Kader said that they were aiming to install three spans each month and 33 out of the 41 spans, each weighing 140 tonne and 150 metre long have already reached from China and two more were on the way.
Assistant Engineer Humayun Kabir said that installation of the 20th span will make three kilometers of the bridge visible.
He added that out of the 42 piers, construction of 36 was complete and the rest will be complete by April next year.
Moreover, 439 out of the 2,959 railway slabs and 150 out of the 2,917 roadway slabs have been installed.