The second Meghna Bridge at the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Narayanganj’s Shonargaon will be opened to the public May 25 as the construction work ended a few months before deadline.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the bridge through a video conference from Ganobhaban on May 25.
Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges Senior Public Relations Officer Abu Naser confirmed informed Bangla Tribune.
Experts are of the view that this will ease traffic in the Dhaka-Chittagong highway significantly and make travel more convenient.
People are demanding that it be opened before Eid-ul-Fitr to make their journey home easier.
The government will also start renovating the old Meghna Bridge which remains congested even on the weekends.
The Tk 18 billion four-lane bridge is 930 metre long and built on 11 peers and two apartment joints, said Meghna Bridge Project Director Shawkat Ahmed Majumder.
The new bridge has one-kilometer approach roads on both the Dhaka and Chittagong ends. A 507 metre service road has also been constructed under the bridge.
Majumder said that nearly Tk 7 billion has been saved given that construction ended nearly months before deadline.
Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Second Kanchpur Bridge on the river Shitalakkhya on March 16 this year. Japanese contractors Obayshi Corporation, Shimizu Corporation, JFE Engineer Corporation, and IHI Infra Systems Company Ltd started the constructions of the 2nd Kanchpur bridge along with the 2nd Meghna and 2nd Meghna-Gumti bridges on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in January 2016.