At last the much-awaited 3rd Karnaphuli bridge opens to traffic to connect Cox's Bazar, Bandarban and southern upazilas of Chittagong for boosting up economic activities in the areas.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to open the 950-metre long and 24.47-metre wide bridge at 11:00am on September 8.
Construction of the bridge started in August 2006 under a project involving Tk 590 crore.
With the financial assistance of Tk 372 crore provided by Kuwait Fund as soft loan was scheduled to be completed in September, 2009.
The bridge could be constructed at Tk 380 crore saving Tk 210 crore of the estimated budget, sources said.
The rest of the amount (Tk 210 crore) would be used in expanding the Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Highway starting from other end (Patiya end) of the bridge, said Project Director (PD) Bidhan Chandra Dharr, also a superintendent engineer of Roads and Highway Department (RHD), Chittagong circle.
Alongside four lanes for vehicles, the bridge has two 1.5-m lanes for movement of 'manual transports' like rickshaws, push carts and vans. There is also a 1.5-m walkway on each side of the bridge, said the project director.
The bridge has a 0.5 km approach road in the city end and one km approach road at the Patiya end, he said.
There is a toll plaza with six money counters---three each for Cox's Bazar-bound and Chittagong-bound vehicles at Patiya end of the bridge, he said.
The 3rd bridge on the river Karnaphuli was a long felt demand since the century-old Kalurghat rail-road bridge and renovated Shah Amanat Bridge could hardly cope with the flow of vehicular traffic to maintain road communications with the South Chittagong division.
Former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia laid the foundation stone of the bridge on April 19, 2004.
The bridge will not cause any significant change in the morphology or siltation of the river. Removal of the existing 2nd bridge now (after completion of the 3rd bridge) would reduce the rate of siltation at Karnaphuli channel, sources said.
Source: thedailystar.net
