Had to redo Padma Bridge design: PM

"Though it has taken time, I changed the design."

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today said she had to redo the design of the 6.15km Padma Bridge, and increase its length, keeping in mind the characteristics of the mighty river.

The PM said she "redesigned the bridge", since the feasibility report found differences in the depth of Padma river at different locations in the project site.

"Though it has taken time, I changed the design," she said while addressing the first meeting of Delta Governance Council, held at her office Gono Bhaban in Dhaka.

She said the flows and bottom-soil of the rivers, including Jamuna and Padma, change after every rainy season. Since the situation in Bangladesh is not the same as in other countries, it will have to keep this under consideration. 

"I didn't allow making the Padma Bridge shorter. We've constructed the bridge keeping buffer zones with the river. So, the bridge has become the longest one (in the country)," she said.

Hasina said those who designed the Bangabandhu Bridge (the bridge over Jamuna river) at its current length had been wrong.

"I think it was a wrong decision to reduce the bridge length over Jamuna to 4 kilometres. Since its design and plan were made earlier, we had nothing more to do there. I had been able to include only the rail line on it," she said.

She said when Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had gone on a visit to Japan, he discussed with the Japanese government about the construction of a bridge over the Jamuna river. Japan then sent a team in 1974 to conduct a feasibility study over it.  

She said her government conducted a feasibility study over Padma river before construction of the Padma Bridge.