Bangladesh's First Air France Flight – Visiting Padma Bridge | Air France

First Time Travelling In Bangladesh For Visiting Padma Bridge | Air France | Padma Bridge Bangladesh 2022

Bangladesh has officially opened its longest bridge, linking the capital, Dhaka, and the southwest.
The nearly $4bn project suffered cost overruns and delays after the World Bank pulled funding following allegations of corruption.
The bridge was eventually funded domestically and built by China.

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge (Bengali: পদ্মা বহুমুখী সেতু Pôdma Bôhumukhī Setu), commonly known as the Padma Bridge (পদ্মা সেতু Pôdma Setu), is a two-level road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of the Ganges in Bangladesh.[4][5] It connects Shariatpur and Madaripur, linking the southwest of the country to the northern and eastern regions. The bridge was inaugurated on 25 June 2022.[2]

Considered to be the most challenging construction project in the history of Bangladesh, the steel truss bridge carries a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single track railway on the lower level.[6] The bridge consists of 41 sections, each 150.12 m (492.5 ft) long and 22.5 m (74 ft) wide, with a total length of 6.15 km (3.82 mi).[5][7] It is the longest bridge in Bangladesh, the longest bridge over the river Ganges(Gaṅgā) by both span and total length, and features the highest pile depth of any bridge in the world at 120 m (390 ft).

The bridge, when commissioned, is expected to boost the GDP of Bangladesh by as much as 1.2 percent.
History
It was reported by Daily Purbadesh in 1971 that a team of survey experts from Japan submitted a feasibility report for the construction of the Dhaka–Faridpur road to the East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). As part of the construction of the road, they suggested building a bridge over the Padma river.[11] After the liberation of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first president of Bangladesh, announced the construction of a bridge over the river Padma, but due to his death, the project was not implemented.[12]

On 18 September 1998, a project worth Tk. 3,843.50 crore was proposed for the construction of a bridge over the Padma River on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga-Khulna Highway with the aim of establishing direct communication between the capital and the south and southwest of the country. At 5 km long and 18.10 m wide, this bridge is considered to be the longest possible bridge in the country. Construction was proposed to begin in July 1999 and be completed in June 2004. The proposed amount of Taka 2,893.50 crore was from foreign sources and Taka 750 crore from local sources.[13]

In the 2006-2007 Annual Development Program, the then Government of Bangladesh adopted a plan to build the Padma Multipurpose Bridge.[14]

The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) invited the pre-qualification tender for the project in April 2010. Construction of the bridge was expected to commence by early 2011[15] and be ready for major completion in 2013 (and complete all sections by late 2015[16][unreliable source?]).

After allegations of corruption by some people associated with the project’s preparation, the World Bank withdrew its commitment and other donors followed. The Government of Bangladesh then decided to fund the project itself.[8]

China proposed building the bridge on the build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis by investing $2 billion or 70 percent of the project cost. Four companies—China Major Bridge Engineering Company, Daelim-L&T JV and Samsung C&T Corporation—purchased the tender papers. However, only the Chinese company submitted their financial proposal on 24 April 2014.

On 17 June 2014, important progress had been made in the construction of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge. A construction firm, China Major Bridge Engineering Company Ltd, was selected to construct the long aspired bridge on the river Padma. The 6.15 km bridge cost an estimated ৳91.72 billion (US$980 million).

Overview of project
The detailed design of the Padma Multipurpose Bridge is being delivered by a team of international and national consultants headed by AECOM.[17][unreliable source?] The team comprises AECOM, SMEC International, Northwest Hydraulic Consultants[18] and ACE Consultants, with additional assistance from Aas-Jakobsen and HR Wallingford.

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