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To the editor
Jamuna Bridge
We are Canadian bridge engineers visiting Bangladesh for a few day’s, on the invitation of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) to give lectures on structural health monitoring and innovations in bridge engineering.
During our few days in Dhaka, many colleagues and friends have spoken to us about the 4.8km long Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge (JMB) being 'all cracked up', 'in great trouble', and having many cracks. After our lectures at BUET. there was also some discussion about the probable causes of cracks in the deck slab of the JMB.
In ajeggnt issue of The Daily Star, the JMB is discussed twice: in
an article 'Sick Bridge over the Jamuna' by Mohammad Nawazish, apparently a retired senior civil servant, and in a letter by Engr. Shaikh Wazir, presumably living in Tokyo.
The well-written article has served the purpose of raising public awareness about the safety of bridges. However, without the knowledge of the cause of cracks in the deck slab and their influence on the integrity of the bridge, i.e. scientific data, the conclusion that "the bridge is slowly and steadily approaching a very risky and painful end" is open to debate. Not all cracks are detrimental to the health of a bridge.
The writer of the letter does not seem to be an expert in bridge engineering. He concludes that the
problems of the bridge are because it does not have expansion joints, or contraction joints as he prefers to call them, every 15 to 25m along its length. He recommends that the bridge with 100m spans should be cut up in 15 to 20m segments, a recipe for demolishing the bridge and no t for saving it.
We believe diagnosing the cause of the cracks is possible. After the diagnosis of the cause of the cracks, the bridge can be monitored by a structural health monitoring and avionics systems, which monitors continually or periodically sensors installed on the bridge at strategic locations, and which ensures that the users of the bridge are not put to any unnecessary risk If the diagnosis shows that the bridge has been weakened by the cracks, the
bridge can be easily rehabilitated by using fibre reinforced polymers (FRPs), it should be noted that such rehabilitation is now routinely carried out In North America, Japan and several European and Far Eastern countries. Rehabilitation of concrete structures by FRPs can be learnt fairly quickly.
We have research teams in Canada that are scientifically monitoring more than fifty bridge structures, which have been installed with fibre optic sensors and state-of-the-art monitoring and civionics systems. These field projects could easily be studied in real time by visiting the website www.isiscanada.com. We recommend that the Canadian approach of monitoring bridges be pursued in lieu of opinions and speculations that are not based on scientific data.
Baidar Bakht
President, JMBT Structures Research Inc., Toronto. Canada and Adjunct Professor of Civil Engineering University of Toronto Toronto, Canada
Aftab Mufti
Professor of Civil Engineering and President, ISIS Canada
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Canada
Our politicians
One of our most respected jurist-cum-politician of safe game is contributing his wisdom for good governance since January 11, 2007. But he remains a very misunderstood politician and jurist. It is very difficult to predict what he wants because of his changing political roles and position on national issues. He talks about democracy but is not ready to adopt the normal course. Recently, he has supported the idea of local govt, election before the general election. We are very confused about his political vision.
This letter might sound discourteous towards our respected but misunderstood leaders and " civil society members". I also respect them like many do. I only want them to behave in such a way that true democracy can be established in Bangladesh, and request them to refrain from giving undemocratic advice, and listen to the voice of the people.
Areader ,
Orte-maiT
Neglected education sector
We all are familiar with the cliche -education is the backbone of a nation. But do the authorities in charge of the country's education sector bother about it?
In Bangladesh, school students' New rear begins with the grim
uncertainty of whether they will get textbooks in time. Then if the authorities are 'kind' enough to print sufficient textbooks, are all the students lucky enough to buy them?
Students in rural areas are deprived of sufficient qualified teachers - a stark truth we remain unbelievably callous to. What
effective actions have been taken so far in this regard?
Now comes the new question method - Structured Question. It's fine to have a more sophisticated question pattern aimed at improving students' performance. But shouldn't they be given sufficient time to cope with the new system? Expecting current students of class DC to jump straight to the SSC
exams of 2010 with less than two years' familiarity with a new question pattern is not justified at all. Rather, this new pattern should be introduced from class VI so that they can have enough time to get comfortable with it. One doesn't have to be a pundit to realise this fact.
Ahmad Ferdous Bin Alam Department ofCSE, DU