Dhaka, June 26 (BNA) Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina celebrated the inauguration of the country’s longest bridge, which took eight years to build.
The 6.51-kilometre (4.04 mi) bridge over the Padma River cost an estimated $3.6 billion and was paid for with local money after the World Bank and other global lending agencies refused to fund the project in the wake of a graft scandal involving a Canadian construction company. .
The bridge, which will open to the public on Sunday, will cut the distance between the capital, Dhaka, and Bangladesh’s second largest seaport, Mongla, by 100 kilometers (62 miles), the Associated Press reported.
The bridge belongs to the people of Bangladesh. She embodies our passion, creativity, courage, endurance and perseverance, Hasina said at a ceremony in Mawa, about 31 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Dhaka.
Although the bridge is not a direct part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the bridge was constructed by China Major Bridge Engineering Ltd. Beijing considers it a milestone for cooperation with Bangladesh, according to a statement issued by Chinese Ambassador Li Jiming.
China Railway Group said that the Padma Bridge will later house a railway network that connects with other Belt and Road projects and will serve as an important link between China and the Pan-Asian railway network.
Policy
Economists say the Padma Bridge will increase Bangladesh’s GDP by an additional 1.3% annually, adding to the strong growth forecast from the Asian Development Bank which expects Bangladesh’s $465 billion economy to grow 6.9% in 2021-22 and 7.1% in 2022 -23.
Officials said the bridge will connect at least 21 districts in the southern and southwestern regions of Bangladesh.
Experts say that building the bridge, which involved more than 4,000 engineers, was a huge technical challenge. The underwater props extend to a depth of 122 meters (400 feet), which is a world record, and requires 41 shafts. At some points in the river, the volume of water flow is second only to the Amazon River in the world.
The World Bank said in 2012 that it had found elements of corruption involving a Canadian construction company in the Padma Bridge plans and decided to walk away from financing the $1.2 billion project.
The decision has prompted other lending agencies including the Asian Development Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Islamic Development Bank to stay away from the project. Hasina then said Bangladesh will build the bridge with its own money.
Corruption charges have been brought to the Supreme Court of Ontario, Canada, which acquitted three former senior executives of SNC-Lavalin, the Canadian company, in an international bribery case linked to the bridge’s construction in 2017.