The much-talked about Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project came to an end on Sunday after almost 17 years it was taken to build a bridge on the River Padma.
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the 6.15-kilometre road-cum-railway bridge between Mawa point in Munshiganj and Janjira point in Shariatpur on June 25, 2022, a day before it opened to traffic.
After the inauguration, the works of the Padma Rail Link project had also done and some works related to the river training were also incomplete.
The project director Shafiqul Islam told 抖阴精品 that the project had been formally ended on Sunday after one-year鈥檚 defect liability period.
聽鈥楾he prime minister will formally conclude the project on July 5,鈥� he added.聽
Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader said on June 25 that a total of 1.27 crore聽 vehicles had crossed the Padma Bridge, contributing over Tk 1,648 crore in tolls, since its inauguration two years ago.
Around three crore people from 21 south-western districts had benefited from the bridge, which cost Tk聽32,605 crore to construct, he added.
Bangladesh Bridge Authority under the road transport and bridges ministry has constructed the bridge entirely financed by the Bangladesh government.
This is a flagship project of the ruling Awami League government, which took it as a challenge after the World Bank cancelled a $1.2 IDA credit in support of the project in 2012 citing 鈥榩ossible corruption risks.鈥�
Prime minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the project in July 2001.
As per the initial proposal in 2007, the length of the bridge was 5.58 kilometres with an estimated cost of Tk 10,161 crore.