Padma bridge not before June 2022

The deadline for finishing the Padma bridge is going to be extended by more than a year largely due to the pandemic.

The current deadline of the fast-track project is June 2021.

There is also a possibility that costs of the project may escalate as delays usually go hand in hand with cost increase. But the project implementing authority maintains that it will not increase from the current Tk 30,193 crore.

"It [construction of Padma bridge] would be completed within 2022," Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said yesterday after a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase that approved time extension for a supervision consultant of the bridge.

Construction of the bridge started in November, 2014, to connect the country's southwestern region with the capital via road and rail. Once in service, the 6.15km-long bridge will connect the capital with 21 southwestern districts. It is expected to boost the country's gross domestic product by 1.2 percent.

The minister said construction work could not go on properly due to the pandemic and unprecedented flood. So, the deadline for construction supervision consultant had to be extended.

"The tenure of the consultant -- Korea Expressway Corporation and Associates -- is going to expire this August [this month]. So, we have given approval for 34 months' extension [from September 2020 to June 2023] at the cost of Tk 348.1 crore," the minister said.

In November 2014, the government signed a four-year deal with the joint venture firm for supervising the construction of the bridge and river training at a cost of Tk 383.15 crore.

Asked if the cost for extending the consultancy service would increase the cost for the bridge, the finance minister said, "No. The [consultancy] cost would be adjusted in the total project cost."

Replying to another question on whether the project deadline would be extended, he said yes and added that they had a plan to complete the project within 2021 but Covid-19 turned everything upside down.

PROGRESS HALTED

When work of most development projects was suspended due to the pandemic, Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project work continued.

But it suffered due to lack of workers -- Chinese and local -- and poor supply of construction materials since January, said officials involved with the project.

The project authority was able to bring back pace after Chinese nationals returned to work in May following the end of the two-month shutdown. But strong currents in the Padma started causing problems, they said.

No span could not be installed after June 10, when the 31st span was installed, due to strong currents, officials said.

Besides, at least 192 railway stingers and 220 roadway decks, supposed to be used for construction of the bridge, went into the Padma on July 31 due to erosion at a yard.

Although the erosion would not affect the bridge, which was nearly 2km off the bridge site, it might cause some delay as the stingers would have to be imported from Luxembourg, they added.

As of December last year, the overall progress of the project was 76.5 percent. It reached 81 percent in the last seven months, project documents say.

The progress of the main bridge and river training was 85.5 percent and 66 percent in December. Until July, it was 89.25 percent and 74 percent, the documents claim.

Contacted, Belayet Hossain, secretary of bridges division, said, "Deadline of the Padma bridge project would be extended. We are considering to extend it for one more year."

Asked whether the project cost would increase, he said, "We don't think the project cost would increase if we adjust cost of different sectors [of the project]."

Prof Khan Mahmud Amanat of civil engineering department of Buet said escalation of project cost mostly depends on the contract with the contractors. 

"As the contractors didn't seek review of the contract cost so far, that's why the project authority can say that the project cost will not increase," he said. "If contractors seek review of the contract cost due to the time extension, then the issue of the rise in project cost will arise. It can't be said right now," he told this correspondent yesterday.

The original cost -- Tk 10,161 crore -- for the bridge was estimated in 2007 on the basis of a feasibility  study. After several revisions, the cost rose to Tk 30,193 crore.

The World Bank withdrew its $1.2 billion loan in 2012 over allegations of corruption conspiracies, which the government refutes.

Bangladesh then moved to build the bridge with its own funds.

Meanwhile, the purchase committee also approved five more proposals involving Tk 447 crore.

Two of the proposals are for procuring furniture and home appliance for residential facilities at the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant Project while the other three are for contracts for publishing textbooks to be distributed among students for free.