Padma Bridge construction: Design flaws found in eight more piers

The work of Padma Bridge construction is increasingly getting complicated for difficulty in resolving the problems that have cropped up with its design.

The problems have already put the project slightly behind the schedule, sources said.

While the project office was finding it hard to solve design-related problems concerning 14 piers of the 6.15-kilometre bridge during the last couple of months, it is now faced with new problems with eight more, some of which have already been partially constructed.

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP) authorities are now learnt to be worried about the total 22 piers of the bridge being built over one of Bangladesh's mighty rivers -- the Padma, which cuts off country's south-western part from the capital, Dhaka.

According to the sources, the PMBP has now requested the construction- supervision consultant (CSC) to check design of all 40 piers to confirm the design.

"We are now little bit frustrated....we're supposed to get the design confirmed by November. But it is now uncertain when we will get it done," said a senior official of the project.

Sources said since the problem arose with the design fault in 14 piers located in-between the 40 piers, the project office involved the management consultant (MC) to check the design according to the proposed solution shown by the Panel of Experts (PoE).

Though the CSC is supposed to solve this kind of bridge design-related problems, the authority engaged British firm Rendal for working as MC against a deadline of October.

Official sources said as MC was not obliged to do the work, the MC sought more time because of

extended work. It is also learnt that the firm also wanted to check entire design of the bridge, not only of 14 piers.

However, refusing to give the time, the PMBP had asked the CSC, a Korean company, to solve the design dilemmas and submit its report before November.

However, sources said, there has been no progress till date and the CSC did not inform the project office how long it would take to finalise the design.

However, the senior official said the time sought by the consultants was needed to fix the problems with the cost and ability of the Chinese contractor. He also said solutions are there but it must be accommodated with all other factors.

Another source said immediate solution could not be made as both consultants want to conduct fresh soil and relevant other tests of the river as the problems in the above-mentioned piers involved finding clay in all locations of the piers. The latest problem in eight piers was also revealed from the soil test, they added.

The under-construction Padma Bridge is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River, to be constructed in steel-truss composite keeping road on the top and rail below. When completed, it would be the largest bridge of Bangladesh, connecting two parts of the country through Louhajong in Munshiganj to Shariatpur and Madaripur in the south-west part.

Though the PMBP has already installed a span of the bridge over two piers, the progress until November last was 12 per cent behind the schedule in the case of bridge construction and 15 per cent in the case of river training. Overall progress on the project is 52 per cent taking into consideration the progress made the construction of approach roads and service areas.

Auckland-based AECOM Maunsell did the detailed design of the PMB in 2010 based on which the Chinese company started work on the bridge site in December 2014.

Sources engaged in the project said the current complicated situation arose for starting construction before confirmation of all the piers and for not conducting necessary detailed surveys on the river according to universal norms.

The government set the deadline for completing the country's largest bridge by December 2018 ahead of the next national elections.

Meanwhile, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Ministry of Planning expressed doubt about finishing the project in time as it found the mega-project eight months behind the timeline.

The project office meanwhile sought additional Tk 14 billion to acquire more land on the project site and the overall cost is likely to increase from the current estimated cost at Tk 288 billion.

Padma Bridge Project was first approved by ECNEC in 2007 with an estimated cost of Tk 101.61 billion. Later, the bridge length was extended due to change in design for which the cost escalated to Tk 205.07 billion. The enhanced cost was approved in 2011.

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