2nd span of Padma Bridge installed

The second span (superstructure) of the much-hyped Padma Bridge was installed between pillars 38 and 39 on Sunday morning, reports news agency UNB.

With the installation of the second span around 8:30am, a total of 300 metres of the Padma Bridge is now visible, said the engineers concerned.

A concerned official said now it will be possible to set up more than one span in every month.

Earlier on Saturday, the second span of the bridge could not be installed due to the depth and strong current in the river.

“The installation process of the 150 metres span has been started on Saturday morning. The floating crane carrying the 150-metre span weighing 3,140 tonnes could not reach the pillars for depth and strong current in the river,” said Mir Faruque Hossain, surveyor of the project.

The work of Padma Multipurpose Bridge became visible with the installation of a 150-metre first span on the pillars 37 and 38 on September 30 last.

The construction work on the country’s largest bridge started in December in 2015 and it is expected that the mega construction will be completed by December this year.

A total of 41 spans, each 150 metres long, will be installed on 42 concrete pillars of the 6.15-km bridge, according to the engineers concerned.