Hasina, Rehana visit Padma Bridge

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, along with her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, visited the Padma Multipurpose Bridge on Friday morning. Dewan Abdul Quader, executive engineer of the Padma Bridge project, said that the two daughters of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman reached the construction site at 7:00am and walked on the bridge from the pillar no 7 to 18.

They left the bridge at 9:57, he said. The much-awaited Padma Bridge will be inaugurated in June 2022. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction work of the bridge at on December 12, 2015.

The 6.15km megastructure is being built on the mighty river Padma at a cost of over Tk 300 billion from the country’s own resources to establish a direct road and rail link between Dhaka and 21 south and south-western districts.

The project had to overcome a myriad of problems, including financing tussle with the World Bank, technical issues like soft soil problem on some pier points and natural problems like corona crisis and strong current in the river during the rainy season.

The construction started in November 2014. It is expected to boost the country's gross domestic product by 1.2 per cent.