The sixth span of Bangladesh’s longest bridge will be set up at the Zajira point on the 36th and 27th pillars, according to Md Humayun Kabir, an engineer with the Bridges Division.
The span weighing about 3,000 tons was hauled by a floating crane to Zajira point on Tuesday from the specialised workshop jetty at Kumarbhog for the installation.
Earlier, the five spans were installed between the 37th and 42nd pillars, connecting Padma Bridge to Zajira point in Shariatpur district.
In addition, another span was set up on the 4th and 5th pillars at the Mawa point in Munshiganj district last year. The bridge will have a total of 41 spans, each 150 metres long.
The construction of the bridge has been going on speedily as 72 percent overall work of the project has already been completed, according to the bridge authorities.
The installation work of all the spans are expected to be complete by this year, they said.
“The sixth span at the Zajira point was expected to be set up earlier. But there was not enough water in the river to take the span weighing about 3,000 tons from the workshop,” said the engineer.
The complexities created over the design of the last pillar were removed on Jan 15 when the specimen of the pillar was approved.
But the Mawa point will face strong currents in the rainy season, which might make the installation of the pillar difficult.
So, the bridge authorities are trying to finish the piling work for all the pillars at the Mawa point before the rainy season.
