Due to Coronavirus scare, the Padma Bridge project has lost momentum. But by cancelling the weekly holidays of the Chinese nationals, efforts are underway to maintain the tempo of work and officials feel the work will end on time.
Project director of Padma Bridge Rail Link Project (PBRLP) Golam Fakhruddin Chowdhury says: “The work pace has slackened; secondly, we are unable to bring machinery from China.”
Some Chinese national who are stuck in China need to be brought to the country on special visa, he added.
He further added: “We are working to end the project work worth Tk 390 billion by 2024; the deal with the Chinese company is Tk 240 billion and the rest is being supplied by the government. The 384km rail line will have 14 stations with 11 broad gauge coaches. For this, 200 acres of land will have to be acquired and so far, land acquisition in 17 districts has ended.
Project director of PBRLP and CREC, Wang Kum, said: “With the advent of Coronavirus, two steps have been taken: first, to ensure that officials linked to the bridge are not affected by the virus and second, carry on work of the project. Secondly, officials who went to Hubei have had their holidays extended but those who are coming back from China are being kept in quarantine for two weeks and then allowed to go free.”
Those who are not from Hubei and are linked to the project have come back and their yearly holidays have been cancelled to maintain the momentum in work, he added.