A new rail-plus-road bridge at Kalurghat in Chattogram is going to cost almost 12 times the initial estimate because the authorities spent nine years doing multiple feasibility studies and designing and redesigning the bridge.

The long-awaited Kalurghat Rail-cum-Road Bridge Project of Bangladesh Railway has been delayed by four years even before the work began, due to its incomplete architectural design.

With British era Kalurghat Bridge over the Karnaphuli river becoming unsafe during the last two decades, Chattogram residents have long been demanding a new bridge to ease their commuting woes.