The Padma Bridge is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River to be constructed in Bangladesh. Padma Bridge is the most challenging construction project in the history of Bangladesh. The two-level steel truss bridge will carry a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single track railway on a lower level. With 150 m span, 6150 m total length and 18.10 m width it is going to be the largest bridge in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basins of country in terms of both span and the total length.

2. INTRODUCTION
 The Padma Bridge is a multipurpose road-rail
bridge across the Padma River to be constructed in
Bangladesh. Padma Bridge is the most challenging
construction project in the history of Bangladesh. The
two-level steel truss bridge will carry a four-lane
highway on the upper level and a single track railway
on a lower level. With 150 m span, 6150 m total length
and 18.10 m width it is going to be the largest bridge in
the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna river basins of
country in terms of both span and the total length.

3. Description
 The project covers three districts — Munshiganj
(Mawa Point/North bank), Shariatpur and Madaripur
(Janjira/South bank). The total area of land to be
acquired and required for its components is 918
hectares. The requisition of land for the construction
yard will be for six years on a rental basis. As per the
new design, an additional 144.04 ha has been
identified for acquisition, bringing the total to 1062.14
hectares. This additional land is required because
project site lost significant land due to erosion, for
transition structures and due to a change in railway
alignment.

4. Component of the Project :
 Main Bridge
 River Training Works(RTW)
 Janjira Approach Road & Selected Bridge End Facilities
 Mawa Approach Road & Selected Bridge End Facilities
 Service Area-2
 Resettlement
 Environment
 Land Acquisition
 CSC(Main Bridge & RTW)
 CSC(Approach Roads & Service Area-2)
 Engineering Support & Safety Team(ESST)

5. FINANCING
 Padma bridge project cost is
estimated to be US$3.00 billion.
The Padma Multipurpose Bridge
(PMB) project was designed to be
funded by donors such as
the World Bank, Japan
International Cooperation
Agency (JICA), Asian
Development Bank (ADB)
and Islamic Development
Bank(IDB). After a scandal of
alleged corruption by some people
associated with project
preparation the World Bank
withdrew its commitment and
other donors followed. The project
is now being funded from own
resources of Government of
Bangladesh.

6.  After the decision of Bangladesh Govt. that we will
construct the bridge by own fund.
 China proposed building the bridge on the build-own-
transfer (BOT) basis by investing $2 billion or 70 percent of
the project cost. Four companies - China Major Bridge
Engineering Company, Daelim-L&T JV and Samsung C&T
Corporation - purchased the tender papers. But only the
Chinese company submitted their financial proposal on 24
April 2014.
 The state-owned company has constructed structures like
the famous 36 km Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the longest sea-
crossing bridge in the world.

7. Tender
 The Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) invited the
pre-qualification tender for the project in April 2010.
Construction of the bridge was expected to commence
by early 2011 and be ready for major completion in 2013
(and complete all sections by late 2015).
 On 17 June 2014,An important progress has been made
in construction of Padma Bridge. A construction firm,
China Major Bridge Engineering Company Ltd has
been selected to construct the long aspired bridge on
the river Padma.

8. Design
Team
The detailed design of
the Padma
Multipurpose Bridge is
being delivered by a
team of international
and national
consultants headed
by AECOM. The team
comprises AECOM,
SMEC International,
Northwest Hydraulic
Consultants and ACE
Consultants, with
additional assistance
from Aas-Jakobsen and
HR Wallingford.

9.  The Project comprises two phases. Phase 1 of the
Project includes the Design Phase leading through
procurement action to the award of construction
contracts. Phase 2 is the Construction Phase. Phase 1
of the project commenced on the 29 January 2009. A
dedicated Project Office was set up in Dhaka in March
2009. Detailed design of the main bridge was carried
out in AECOM's Hong Kong office. All work carried
out by the design team was carried out within the
framework of AECOM's Quality Management System
(QMS) which is independently accredited to AS/NZS
ISO 9001.

10. Current status
of project
Around 20.5% construction
work of the 6.15-kilometre-long
two-tier Padma Multipurpose
Bridge has been completed.
The China Major Bridge
Engineering Corporation
(MBEC), which was appointed
for the main bridge, will carry
out the work. The soil testing
and dredging works have been
going on for the last four
months for the river training.
The bridge will have a total of
42 pillars. Each will have six
piles beneath. Steel spans will
be placed on the pillars. The
bridge will have a total of 41
spans.

11. Work on the Padma
Bridge is broadly divided
into five parts—the main
bridge, river training, two
link roads and
infrastructure (service
area) construction.
China's Sinohydro
Corporation was
appointed for the river
training works while
Bangladesh's Abdul
Monem Limited was given
the contract for the two
link roads and
infrastructure
construction.

12. Controversy
From the beginning the
Padma bridge negotiation
has been involved to
corruption and
conspiracy. The World
Bank stated that they
found, "credible evidence
corroborated by a variety
of sources which points to
a high-level corruption
conspiracy among
Bangladeshi government
officials, SNC-
Lavalin executives, and
private individuals in
connection with the
Padma Multipurpose
Bridge Project."

13.  For the corruption, the World Bank turned down to
sanction the proposed loan for constructing the
bridge. In this circumstances World Bank imposed
some conditions to continue the loan talk with the
government. According to one of these conditions
Communications Minister Syed Abul
Hossain resigned, as he was found involved with
corruption.

14. Benefits
 Benefits of building road and rail transportation across
the river would come from three main sources:
decreased vehicle operating costs, increased time-
savings, and a boost in GDP due to increased
economic activities.

15. Conclusion
 A bridge is not only a single bridge. It’s a new way to go
a long way, a door to reach some goals.
 We hope it will help us to connect the people of those
area to connect with Dhaka and it will also connect us
to a new phase of communication.

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