Padma Bridge to boost external trade through ports

Once the long-cherished Padma Bridge is inaugurated on 25 June, it is expected that the volume of external trade will go up through the country’s ports located in its south-western region.

“The Mongla seaport will be more operational after the opening of the Padma Bridge,” professor Anwarul Qadir, a prominent educationist and director of the Sundarbans Academy, told BSS.

Observing that this would also attract traders to invest in the southwestern region, he said imports and exports from Mongla and Payra seaports and Benapole and Bhomra land ports will increase.

The educationist anticipated that the Padma Bridge will allure entrepreneurs to set up new industries in the region.

“At the same time, the Khulna region will be economically prosperous. Now the existing roads in the region need to be expanded in a planned way,” he added.

Urging the authorities concerned to place new proposals to the government over construction of roads, Qudir said if prime minister Sheikh Hasina gets any proposal from the region, then she will take steps accordingly.

Manik Sheikh, a poultry trader of Maynapota area in Khulna city, said the Padma Bridge is the name of the country’s best achievement.

By constructing the bridge, prime minister Sheikh Hasina has indebted the country’s people, particularly those living in its south-western region, he said.

Manik hoped that prime minister Sheikh Hasina would take steps to ensure planned development by expanding the narrow roads in the Khulna region.

He said the people of the region have confidence in Sheikh Hasina and even she is sincere about the development of the region.

The demand for an airport in Khulna has not gone away even after the opening of the Padma Bridge, said Sadia Afrin, a third-year student of the Fine Arts Department at Khulna University.

She said the work of under-construction airport at Rampal should be carried forward to attract more domestic and foreign investors and tourists.

Khairuzzaman Sajib, a mobile accessories trader at Khulna Shopping Complex, said there will be an industrial revolution in the Khulna region centering the Padma Bridge.

Now the government should take steps to reopen the closed jute, textile, newsprint and hardboard mills in Khulna, he added.

The people have to face untold suffering at ferries in crossing the Padma River, said women entrepreneur Sultana Shilu.

“Once I was attacked by robbers at a ferry….after inauguration of the Padma Bridge, the women will not be the victims of such incident and harassment in the future,” she added.

Shilu said now people living in the Khulna region will be able to return home within a day after joining a meeting in Dhaka, thanks to prime minister Sheikh Hasina and others involved in the bridge construction.

“The Padma Bridge will connect the country’s eastern region, including the Dhaka city, to its southwestern part,” said Jatiya Party central vice-chairman and Khulna district president Shafiqul Islam Madhu.

Calling upon the authorities concerned to reconsider the tolls of the Padma Bridge, he said once the bridge is opened, the goods transportation from the ports of the region will be easy and transit facilities will increase too.

“Local and foreign investors will come up with their investment there,” Madhu added.

Establishing an airport in Khunla is urgent now as the Sundarbans-centric tourism industry will flourish and foreigners will come to invest in Mongla EPZ, he said.

Mentioning that there were many domestic and foreign conspiracies around the Padma Bridge, the Jatiya Party leader said none should do politics over mega projects of the country.