Kalurghat bridge: CA to lay foundation stone on May 14

CHATTOGRAM, Apr 3: Chief Adviser Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus is expected to lay the foundation stone for the construction of a new rail-cum-road bridge project over the River Karnaphuli at Kalurghat on May 14.

Dr Yunus will be coming to the port city to attend the convocation of Chittagong University (CU) on that day.

Farooq-e-Azam, adviser to the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs, disclosed this on Thursday after visiting the grave of Engineer Omar bin Nurul Absar, who was martyred in the mass uprising in July in Boalkhali upazila. He was also exchanging Eid greetings with Omar's family.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved a Tk 115.61 billion new rail-cum-road bridge project on October 7 to ensure smooth and uninterrupted communication between Chattogram and Cox's Bazar.

Out of the total project cost, Tk 71.25 billion will come from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and Economic Development Promotion Facility (EDPF) of Korea.

Bangladesh Railway will build a two-tier road-cum-rail bridge across the River  Karnaphuli at Kalurghat point to replace a rundown old bridge.

Previously, a loan agreement worth about $81.49 million was signed with South Korea's Exim Bank for the construction of the project last year.

The new bridge at Kalurghat will be constructed 70 meters upstream from the existing age-old bridge, and the alignment of the new bridge will be from Jane Ali Hat to Gomdandi Rail Station. The roads and highways division will construct the roads connecting to the bridge.

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