Padma bridge to become visible by August

The Padma bridge, Bangladesh's largest infrastructure project till date, will be visible at the Janjira end by next month, the project's director Engineer Shafiqul Islam has said. Engineers are working round the clock to finish the work at Janjira point by the end of July. But those involved in the project say they are targeting August given the strong current in the Padma. Shafiqul told the Bangla Tribune that spans cannot be installed before some relevant works are done. He said they were trying to finish these works by the end of July. “If we fail to finish within this month, then we will do our best to get it done within August,” he said. “In that case, the Padma bridge will be first visible at Janjira end [after installing two spans].” Once completed, the 6.15-kilometre road-rail bridge across the Padma will be the largest bridge in Bangladesh being built at a cost of $3.692 billion. It will connect Bangladesh's south-west to the northern and eastern regions. Forty-two pillars will be used in the bridge and 40 of them will be installed in the river. The riverbed at Mawa end created complexities over what the length of the pillars should be. Project sources say, 16 of the pillars are currently being worked on and 252 piles will be there for the pillars. Of these piles, works on 28 are complete and 57 others are halfway. Piling work is being done at the Janjira point for the last one and a half years. After casting works, a cap will be installed on pillar number 37. Concrete molding works are going on at pillar number 38. When they are finished, the span will be installed and then the Padma bridge will become visible. Three 150-metre long spans, each weighing 3,000 tonnes, have been kept ready on the river bank. Four more spans are being built. The main piling work is going ahead braving issues like strong current and structure of the riverbed. Although works on number 6 and 7 pillars started at the Mawa end since the beginning of the project, they were moved to Janjira point at halfway. Works on pillars 36 to 42 are going on in full swing at the Janjira end. Works on pillars 1, and 6 to 12 have been stopped as their lengths could not be fixed. Project Director Shafiqul said the problem was solved recently. A German hammer with 3,000-kilojoule capacity joined the construction work last month. It is currently being used for piling work on the Janjira point. The other two hammers will be used at the Mawa point. Shafiqul said soil tests for piling works at the Janjira point had been done. “We are yet to test soil at the Mawa end. That's why we could not file a testing report,” he said. “The soil in the riverbed is different at various points giving rise to complexities,” he said. “It is a project for 100 years. So the experts will not give any opinion until they are absolutely sure. We have currently reached a certain point.” Although 52% work on the main bridge was supposed to be finished by now, 44% have so far been done. Project officials say they expect to install the spans anytime this month. Works on four pillars at the Janjira point have been finished. Pipes with three-metre diameter are being built with five-inch thick steel sheets. A 128-metre long pipe is being built with these which is being used for piling. Piling works of four pillars on the Janjira end have already been finished. Three of these pillars have been installed in the river. The construction work has been divided in five parts. Of these, the connecting road at the Mawa end has finished. About 82% of the connecting road at Janjira has been built. Twenty-six percent river training has been done. The service area works have been fully completed while 31% of the main bridge's work is finished. Project Director Shafiqul said they were optimistic that they would be able to finish constructing the bridge within the given time. Dr Jamilur Reza Choudhury, who heads the international panel of experts for Padma bridge, said pillars have been installed for a depth of 122 metres. “It is a world record,” he said. “Pillars have not been set up at such depth anywhere in the world. Overall, Bangladesh is getting close to its dream.”