FROM PAGE 1
the project is June 2021 and costs of the project rose to Tk 30,193 crore following several revisions. Once completed, the 6.15km bridge will connect the capital with 21 southern districts and is expected to boost Bangladesh’s gross domestic product by 1.2 percent.
When work of most development projects remained suspended due to Covid-19 fallout, Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project work continues.
But it faces obstacles for lack of workers -- both Chinese and locals -- and supply of construction materials, officials involved with the project said.
When the overall progress of the project was 76.5 percent as of December last year, it reached 79 percent in the last four months, they said.
The physical progress of the main bridge and river training were 85.5 percent and 66 percent respectively as of December last year. It rose to 87 percent and 71 percent respectively until April this year, they said.
Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, on several occasions early this year, said all 41 spans of the bridge would be installed by July this year if everything remains okay. Twenty-nine spans have so far been installed.
The problem began in January when a good number of Chinese nationals working in the project went home on leave to celebrate the Chinese New Year and could not return timely due to Covid-19 outbreak in China.
The headquarters of the Chinese company building the bridge, China Major Bridge Engineering Co Ltd, is in Wuhan city, the first epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.
Although 39 out of 41 spans reached Bangladesh from China before the outbreak, the company in China constructing the remaining two spans remained closed.
When the situation in Chana became normal, almost all of the Chinese nationals returned to Bangladesh and joined work after staying in 14 days’ quarantine, Covid-19 hit Bangladesh.
Around 60 percent local workers left the project in March and the authorities continue the work with the limited workers for around a fortnight, officials said.
“Actually, we lagged behind around four months from our deadline due to coronavirus outbreak,” said a project engineer, wishing anonymity.
SITUATION IMPROVES LITTLE
Now, all the Chinese engineers and workers are working and the number of local workers has also increased, Dewan Md Abdul Kader, project manager (main bridge), told The Daily Star. “Almost 70 percent local workers are now working,” he added.
About the two spans, he said most parts of the spans already reached Mongla Sea Port and are expected to reach Mawa construction yard within a week.
The remaining parts are expected to reach Bangladesh within the first week of June, he added.
“We are expecting to install at least two spans every month. In that case, it may take November to install all the spans,” he added.
Siltation during the rainy season caused problems in the channel between 17 and 38 piers on the Janjira end and so they would try to install two spans between 25 and 27 piers within June, he added.
He said the 29th span of the bridge linking the 19th and 20th piers was installed around 10:45am yesterday at the Mawa end, bringing into view 4.350 kilometres of the structure.
BACKGROUND
A feasibility study on the project was conducted with the assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) from 2003 to 2005. The original cost was estimated in 2007 on the basis of the study.
Then the cost was Tk 10,161 crore. However, it did not include the cost of railway lines on the bridge.
With financing from the Asian Development Bank, the work on a detailed design of the bridge had started in 2009.
The cost almost doubled to Tk 20,507 crore when the first revision was done in 2011, including the cost of the railway lines.
According to the first revision, the project was scheduled to be completed in 2015.
The authorities in 2015 revised the project cost by 40 percent, raising the estimated cost to Tk 28,793 crore. The deadline for completion of the project was extended to 2018.
In 2018, the deadline was extended to December 2019, and the cost shot up to 30,193 crore to acquire additional land. Last year, the deadline was extended to June 2021.
The World Bank withdrew its $1.2 billion loan in 2012 over the allegations of corruption conspiracies, which the government always strongly rejected.
The country then moved to build the bridge with its own funds.
Another doc
FROM PAGE 1
members “were sick and in isolation at home”.
Prof Moniruzzaman, in his 60s, worked at Anwar Khan Modern Medical College Hospital and was also involved in three other private hospitals in the capital, said Prof Md Eklasur Rahman, principal of the medical college.
The physician came to Anwar Khan Modern Medical College Hospital (in the morning) and had saline after he felt ill, he added.
After he felt better, he returned home following a visit to another hospital he was engaged with, the doctor said.
He was taken to the CMH when his condition worsened. He died around 6:00pm on Sunday, Eklasur added.
Moniruzzaman was buried at Banani Graveyard yesterday in presence of two of his close family members, said cousin Kawser.
Bangladesh reported the first death of a physician, Moyeen Uddin, an assistant professor of medicine at the Sylhet Osmani Medical College Hospital, on April 15.
According to Bangladesh Doctor’s Foundation data updated until May 2, 540 doctors have so far been infected with the coronavirus.