10 Unknown Facts Of Padma Bridge

 In this blog i will introduce 10 unknown and incredible facts about Padma Bridge. So lets get started

A multi-purpose road and railway bridge built over the Padma River in Bangladesh. Through this bridge Shariatpur and Madaripur districts were connected with Munshiganjs Lohajang. The inauguration of the Padma Bridge is scheduled for june 25 2022. On june 25, Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the Padma Bridge. The two-tiered steel and concrete truss bridge has a four-lane road at the top and a single rail at the bottom.

1. Padma Bridge is the largest bridge in Bangladesh, the largest construction and the longest bridge because it is built on the fastest flowing and big rivers of Bangladesh.
2. The bridge has 42 pillars and 41 spans, each span 150 meters long.
3. The length of the bridge is 6.150 km and width is 18.10 meters.
4. The Padma Bridge was designed by US company AECOM and built by China Major Bridge Engineering Construction Company Ltd. Sinohydro Corporation of China works on river governance. Abdul Monem Limited Of Bangladesh was awarded the contract for construction of two connecting roads and infrastructure.
5. Construction of the Padma Bridge started in November 2014, after a long wait on September 30 2017, the first span was placed on the pillars of the Padma Bridge. With the installation of the 41st span on the Padma Bridge on December 10 2020, the entire Padma Bridge became visible. The last road slab was laid on 23 August 2021. From 4 to June 10 2022, the test of 415 lights of the bridge was completed step by step. On June 14, all the lights were lit at once.
6. On 16th September 1998, for the first time BDT 3643.50 crore was proposed for the construction of a bridge over the river Padma. The original project was planned by the former caretaker government on 28th August 2007. At that time the Padma Bridge project worth 10 thousand 161 crore BDT was passed. Later, the Awami League government came and connected the railways and on 11th January 2011 revised the cost of the bridge in the phase. At that time the cost was estimated at 20 thousand 507 crore BDT. The cost of the Padma Bridge was further increased by 8000 crore BDT. As a result, the cost of the Padma Bridge was TK 28793 crore. Now, the total cost for the construction of Padma Bridge was TK 30193.39 crore. These cost include construction of bridge infrastructure, 918 hectares of river governance, connecting roads, land acquisition, rehabilitation and environment, salaries and allowances etc. According to the agreement of the Bridge Department with the Finance Department of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh government gave a loan of TK 29893 crore for the construction of the bridge. The Bridge Authority will pay it at the rate of 1 percent interest within 35 years.
7. In July 2019, rumors spread on Facebook that people heads were needed for the construction of the Padma Bridge. This led to beatings and mass beating of many mentally unbalanced people in different parts of Bangladesh on the pretext of kidnapping; even deaths occur. Later, on July 9 2019, the Bridge construction Authority sent a notification to the media stating that this information was rumored and baseless.
8. The World Bank withdrew its pledge in 2008-2009 after allegations of corruption by some people involved in project preparation, and other donors followed suit. In this incident, then Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain was removed from the cabinet and Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhaiyan was sent to jail. The case was later dropped by a Canadian Court for lack of evidence.
9. In the begining, the engineers who built the bridge had difficulty in burying the piles in the ground due to the soft soil at the bottom of the river. The chemicals are then injected into the soil through pipes through the Screen Grouting method at the bottom of the river. Then be able to build the pile. The Padma Bridge will survive 9 magnitude earthquakes on the Richter scale. Because the capacity of Double Curvature Friction Pendulum Bearing in this bridge is 10 thousand tons. So far no bridge has been fitted with bearings of such capacity.
10. It is second only to the Amazon River in the world in terms of water flow. Piles have been laid on the bridge at a depth of 120 to 127 meters. No other bridge in the world had to go so deep to enter the pile, which is a world record.