Mega Projects in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a developing country. It is making rapid progress in infrastructures. As a result, we are expected to see a lot of development projects within some years. There is some mega project running in Bangladesh. These projects will change the image of this country. It is expected that these projects will help to enrich the economy of Bangladesh. Today we will discuss some mega projects in Bangladesh.

The Padma Bridge:

In the history of Bangladesh, the Padma bridge is the most challenging construction project. Padma bridge is the ‘Dream Bridge’ for the Bangladeshi people. The Padma Bridge is a self-financed project of the Bangladesh Government. It is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma river. The project will cover three districts – Munshiganj (Mawa point/Northside) , Shariatpur and Madaripur (Janjira/side par) [1]. As a result, the communication system in the whole country will be improved. [2]

The Padma river is the longest river for crossings in the world, and it is the third-longest river in the world [4]. Upon completion, the Padma bridge will be the world’s 25^thlongest bridge [5].

The Padma Bridge is to be a two-level truss bridge. It is made of steel and concrete. There will be a four-lane road at the upper level and at the lower level, there will be a single railway track. Its total length is 6.241 km ( 3.878 miles) and its width is 18.18 m ( 59.6 ft).In Padma bridge, there are 41 spans and each span length is 150 meters. [1] [2]

image credit: wikimedia.org

The Padma bridge construction has started on 7 December 2014, and construction cost is approximately $3.6 billion. The bridge is designed by AECOM and a Chinese company called China Major Bridge Engineering Company Limited has been contracted to construct the bridge [2]. The construction will be finished within June 2022 [3]. Though the construction of the Padma bridge was supposed to end in June 2021, it is no longer possible due to COVID 19 pandemic and flood [3].

image credit: somoynews.tv

Padma bridge is the pride of the Bangali nation. It will play a huge role in socio-economic development and it will increase our transport system.

Dhaka Metro Rail Project:

Traffic jam is a significant problem in Dhaka city. Every day we lost our valuable time because of the traffic jam. The government of Bangladesh is trying to reduce traffic jams from Dhaka city. It has taken the metro rail project to reduce traffic jams.

The Dhaka metro rail construction project is known as Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). The project started on 26 Jun 2016. Though it was planned in 2013. The metro rail project will be finished in 2021. The number of metro rail line are five where one line is under construction, and the rest of the line is planned for the future. The entire five lines are 1,2,4,5 and 6 where MRT line -6 is under construction [6]. The length of the MRT line-6 is 20.1 km from Uttora to Motijhil. [7][8]

image credit: prothomalo.com

The project was signed by the Bangladesh government with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). For MRT line 6 total cost is around $2.8 billion. The metro rail will carry 60,000 passengers in an hour. The project will save $2.5 billion a year which is equivalent to 1.5% of GDP and 17% of the total text revenue of Bangladesh [9].

Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant :

Bangladesh has a shortage of electricity . The Bangladesh government has taken many projects to reduce the power shortage. Rooppur, nuclear power project, is one of them. It is the first nuclear power plant in Bangladesh, located in the Pabna district [10].

The construction has been started on 30 November 2017. The power plant is being built by Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation. Its total cost is $12.65 billion and from the nuclear power plant, we will get 2,400-megawatt electricity. The first unit of the power plant is scheduled to be commissioned in 2023 and the second unit in October 2024 [10][11].

image credit: neftegaz

This project will provide low-cost electricity and create a new job in Bangladesh. This project will increase our country’s power production and will reduce load shedding [11].