Bangabandhu Bridge
Delay in cracks repair to cost additional Tk 120cr
The public exchequer will have to fork out around Tk 120 crore extra due to a delay in repairing cracks on Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge.
Experts said the repair cost will increase due to development of many new cracks while the old ones became bigger.
Numerous cracks were detected on the 4.8-kilometre long bridge over the Jamuna River in 2006, but successive governments failed to appoint a contractor for repair, compromising its lifespan and load carrying capacity.
The estimated cost for the repair was Tk 207 crore last year. The amount was revised at Tk 327 crore in the latest offer of the government as the previous attempt failed to find a contractor, sources in the Bridge Division said.
“The entire bridge deck has to be repaired,” said Khan Mahmud Amanat, a professor in the civil engineering department at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
He said a synthetic material that looks like plastic sheet will be used to repair the cracks.
“The volume of work has increased due to expansion of the cracks, and that’s the main reason for the hiked cost,” said Prof Khan, who is involved in the process of selecting a contractor for the repair.
He said the new cracks would not have developed had the old ones been repaired on time.
Meanwhile, three construction companies submitted technical and financial offers for getting the job.
“We are now evaluating the technical offers, which is expected to be completed by this month,” said Abdul Wadud, chief engineer of the Bridge Division, on Wednesday.
He said they will open the financial offers of only technically responsive firms.
The companies are ACL-RNC-STP JV, a Bangladeshi, Filipino and Indian joint venture; China Communications Construction Company Limited; and MBEL-Shikon JV, a Bangladeshi and Malaysian joint venture.
The country’s longest bridge, that connects the northern region with the capital, developed the cracks just nine years into being opened to public in 1997.
An expert team headed by Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury then recommended immediate repair.
“We can’t just afford any more delay in repairing the cracks,” said Prof Khan, adding that the delay will only reduce the lifespan of the bridge.
The Tk 4,000 crore bridge, with an expected lifespan of 100 years, was built by South Korean Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co Ltd. Later, experts found faults in Hyundai’s design and construction that led to the emergence of the cracks.
The authorities already cut vehicular speed and load limit on the bridge by about a half. The speed limit for trains had been 40 kilometres per hour in the original design, which was reduced to 20 km/h for passenger trains, and 16 km/h for freight trains, railway officials said.
Moreover, trains that use the bridge now cannot haul two engines, and freight trains must have empty containers in between loaded ones. The maximum Uniformly Distributed Load capacity of the bridge has also dropped.
