Munima Sultana

The visiting donor mission, local and foreign panel of experts on Padma multipurpose bridge project reviewed the interim design of the US$ 887 million bridge on Monday and put forward some suggestions to make it feasible.

Meeting sources said the six-member mission of Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (WB) and Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) and 10-member panel of experts held a meeting with the consultants at the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA) conference room and exchanged opinion.

Official sources said the consultants, Mausell AECOM Ltd, shared the interim design with the donors and panel of experts and informed that the final design of the 6.15 km long bridge would be confirmed after completing 40 studies being conducted at the project site.

Those who attended the meeting from the donors' side were two members each from ADB, WB and JICA. Two visiting technical experts from Japan, one from the Netherlands and members of the technical committee of the project also attended the meeting chaired by BBA in-charge executive director Azizur Rahman.

The sources said the visiting donor mission recommended the government to give priority to resettlement issues of the displaced people, including those of environmental damage, health issues and financial rehabilitation of the affected people.