The bridge on the Padma River, one of the largest infrastructure projects of Bangladesh, will be named after the river, not after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
“Lawmakers and people from all walks of lives demanded for naming the bridge after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as she took the challenge to build the bridge with the country’s own fund. But the prime minister instructed to name it after the river,” Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said on Wednesday.
Speaking to the media at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, where he went to visit a patient, he said his ministry forwarded a proposal to the PMO for naming the bridge after Hasina.
“But the prime minister turned it down instructing to name it after the Padma River,” he added.
The prime minister is scheduled to inaugurate the construction of rail tracks on the bridge on Oct 13, said Quader.
She will also kick-off construction of the 13,000-meter river protection embankment for the Padma at Munshiganj’s Mawa as well as the 55-kilometre Dhaka-Mawa Expressway.
After visiting the construction site on Sept 29, Quader, the secretary general of ruling Awami League, said that the bridge will be named after Hasina.