Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said she had to redo the design of the 6.15-km Padma Bridge to increase its length, keeping in mind the characteristics of the mighty river.
The prime minister said she had resigned the bridge afresh since the feasibility report had found differences in the depth of the mighty Padma River at different locations in the bridge project site.
“I did not allow for any loopholes. Though it has taken time, I changed the design,” she said addressing the first meeting of Delta Governance Council, held at her office in Dhaka.
She said the flows and bottom-soil of the rivers including the Jamuna and the Padma changed after every rainy season. Since the situation in Bangladesh is not the same as in other countries, it is necessary to make plans properly keeping the difference in mind.
“I did not allow making the Padma Bridge smaller. We have constructed the bridge keeping buffer zones with the river. So the bridge has become the longest one [in the country],” she said.
Sheikh Hasina said those who had designed Bangabandhu Bridge, the bridge over the Jamuna, at its current length had been wrong.
“But I think it was a wrong decision to reduce the bridge over Jamuna to a 4-km one. Since its design and plan were made earlier, we had nothing more to do there. I was able to include only the rail line in it,” she said.
She said when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman went on a visit to Japan, he had discussed with the Japanese government the construction of a bridge over the Jamuna River. Japan then sent a team in 1974 to conduct a feasibility study.
She said her government had conducted a feasibility study on the Padma River before construction of the Padma Bridge.
Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Environment Minister Md Shahab Uddin, Prime Minister's Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Affairs Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury, State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, State Minister for Water Resources Zaheed Farooque, Principal Coordinator (SDG Affairs) Zuena Aziz and PMO Senior Secretary Md Tofazzel Hossain Miah, among others, were present.