Padma Bridge
‘Bid on to start work early next year’
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain yesterday said the government is making all out efforts to start the construction of Padma Bridge at the beginning of next year.
Once this construction starts, initiatives would be taken to build another bridge at the Paturia-Daulatdia point of the Padma River, he added. He was talking to reporters after a meeting with South Korean Ambassador Yang Chou at the secretariat office.
The minister said the South Korean envoy, on behalf of International Association of World Road Congress, invited him to attend world road congress to be held in Mexico in 2011.
Abul Hossain said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has directed the communications ministry to expand roads and railways and the ministry is working to this end.
He said the government has taken initiatives to construct a second railway bridge beside the Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge and two bridges at Bahadurabadghat point over the Jamuna and Paturia-Daulatdia point on the Padma.
The process will begin soon to appoint consultants in this regard, he added.
Explaining the move to construct the railway bridge over the river Jamuna, he said Bangabandhu Bridge does not have enough capacity to take additional loads. Therefore, the need for a separate railway bridge has arisen.
He said the new railway bridge would be able to take the load of trains with goods too and facilitate direct train communications from Kunming of China to India. This bridge will play an important role in regional communications, he added.
Abul Hossain said the PM has asked the ministry to construct bridges over all rivers, in phases, to establish direct road and railway communication across the country.
He said the present government is taking big projects at hand for construction of roads, railways and bridges.
All the projects would be completed, if the PM returns to power after the present tenure, he added.
