Grit and glory

At precisely 12:02pm came the glorious moment. The final span of the Padma bridge was in its place and a giant step was made towards the realisation of a long-cherished dream.

As the colossal floating crane installed the 150-metre span on pillar-12 and -13, Bangladeshi engineers and officials on the crane were jubilant. They were prepared. They had two national flags with them.

The two sides of the river have been linked.

And the elation is justified because the country had to overcome financial setbacks and engineering challenges to get past this major milestone and send a message to the world what it is capable of.

The Padma bridge project is being implemented with the country's own funds after the World Bank and other international lenders had cancelled financing over allegations of corruption, which were later found to be not true.

The first span was installed on September 30, 2017.

Now fully visible, the 6.15km Padma bridge is expected to be a game-changer for the economy. It will establish direct road communication between 21 south-western districts and the capital in 2022.

The double-decker steel and concrete bridge will have a dual carriageway on the top and a single broad-gauge rail line within the steel structure.

"The bridge has become a reality because of the courageous leadership of the prime minister. This is a matter of pride for the whole nation. Today is an auspicious moment for us," Belayet Hossain, executive director of Bangladesh Bridge Authority, the executing agency of the bridge, told The Daily Star.

Once in service, the Tk 30,193-crore bridge will not only shorten travel time between Dhaka and the south-western districts, but also potentially unlock opportunities for over 30 million people living in that region.

It will facilitate regional trade and accelerate development, experts have said.

It is expected to boost the country's gross domestic product by 1.2 percent.

Soon after the installation of the 40th span last week, there was great enthusiasm among people and a feeling of festivity.

Even though the weather was foggy, the 41st and last span was taken near pillar-12 and -13 around 5:45pm on Wednesday. Members of the armed forces guarded the superstructure and the giant crane overnight.

Officials, engineers, and workers gathered near the pillars around 8:00am and completed some preliminary work. The final work for the installation of the span started at 9:40am, said Belayet Hossain, also the secretary to the Bridge Division.

The span was then slowly taken towards pillars-12 and -13 at the Mawa end.

There was a little uncertainty as there was fog yesterday morning but visibility improved as the day progressed. When the sun emerged around noon, the entire span was glimmering in the sunshine.

As the work progressed, over 100 reporters and photographers documented everything from trawlers and speedboats from a safe distance.

Apart from taking photographs and footage for their respective media houses and going live on Facebook and YouTube, many were seen taking selfies with the bridge in the background.

A crew member of a TV channel had painted his face like a tiger and held the national flag in his arms. He was celebrating in a manner usually seen when Bangladesh cricket team, known as the Tigers, achieved something very big.

"This is a big deal for the people of the southwest. They have been enduring huge sufferings [to cross the Padma river]," Aynal Mridha, a trawler driver said as the last span was being installed.

The 25-year-old from Munshiganj recalled, "I had to carry a dead body in my trawler as the ambulance it was in could not cross the river due to unavailability of ferries."

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader yesterday said, "The prime minister, defying all challenges, proved that Bangladesh is a nation of warriors. We can do it."

Quader, also the general secretary of the ruling Awami League, informed the premier immediately after the span was installed, sources said.

Cabinet Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam, who served as bridge division secretary for eight years, yesterday said, "It [Padma bridge] is now physically complete ... I think by June 2022, we will open the Padma bridge … This is a great achievement."

WHAT'S LEFT?

Roadway deck and railway stringers are being installed now.

Of the 2,917 roadway slabs of the bridge, 1,333 have been installed as of yesterday while 1,942 railway slabs out of 2,959 have been installed.

Besides, some other work including installation of electricity and gas transmission lines have to be completed before opening the bridge for the public.

The railway stringers, which went into the Padma due to erosion at a yard, have to be brought in from Luxembourg and this may cause some delays, officials said.

The main bridge construction achieved 91 percent progress while river training, another important component of the project, has made 76 percent progress, they said.

The overall progress of the project is 82.5 percent.

Belayet said they were hopeful of completing the rest of the work within 15 months, as the pandemic had slowed down the construction work.

Two Chinese companies are implementing the project. One is constructing the bridge while the other is doing the river training.