Bridging upazilas of Pirojpur and beyond
With three finished bridges and four more on the way, all upazilas of the district will soon be accessi-ble by road from the rest of the country
The entire district of Pirojpur will soon be accessible by road from the rest of the country and vice versa -- thanks to seven new river bridges that are to be completed during the tenure of the present government.
Among those, construction of three new bridges have already been completed and two are under construction. Preparation for construction of the other two are currently underway.
After all the new bridges are made open to public, residents of Pirojpur’s all seven upazilas, separated from each other by rivers, will no longer need to cross multiple rivers in order to reach the district headquarters.
Masud Mahmud Sumon, executive engineer of Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Pirojpur, said after the bridges are completed, the southern district will come under direct road link with the rest of the country, generating a wave of economic development in the region.
As part of the vision, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has finished construction of the Sheikh Hasina Bridge over the Dirgha Kaliganga river in Nazripur upazila at a cost of around TK 37 crore. The 360-metre-long bridge was inaugurated recently by Housing and Public Works Minister SM Rezaul Karim, MP, Pirojpur-1.
Previously, two other bridges were constructed over the river Baleshwar. The Shaheed Fazlul Haque Moni Bridge connects Pirojpur Sadar upazila with Indurkani upazila, while the Baleshwar Bridge connects neighbouring district Bagherhat with district town of Pirojpur.
Speaking with this correspondent, Minister SM Rezaul Karim hoped that all of Pirojpur will come under direct road link during the tenure of the present government.
“I am trying to build a bridge over the Sandha to bring together two parts of Nesarabad upazila, while another bridge in Sreeramkathi on the Kaliganga river to connect Nazirpur and Nesarabad upazilas,” the minister said, hoping that communications and economy of riverine Pirojpur will undergo extensive development once all the bridges are completed.
Among the ongoing constructions, the work of Eighth Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge on Barishal-Pirojpur-Khulna highway over river Kacha started in 2017.
Assisted by the government of China and supervised by RHD, the bridge is being built by China Railway 17th Bureau Group Co Ltd.
The TK 822-crore bridge, scheduled to be completed by 2021, will create road connectivity between Barishal and Khulna divisions.
Pirojpur RHD Executive Engineer Masud Mahmud Sumon said they were confident that the bridge will be completed within the schedule.
Work of another new bridge with a price tag of around TK 115 crore started in July 2018 on the Kaliganga in Pirojpur Sadar’s Kalakhali village.
Supervised by LGED, the 600-meter-long bridge is being built by Navana Construction and it will establish road link between Pirojpur Sadar and Nesarabad upazilas.
Abul Kalam Azad, sub-assistant engineer of LGED in Pirojpur, said residents of Nesarabad upazila experience serious difficulties when they have to cross two rivers on their way to the district headquarters in Pirojpur town.
Their sufferings will end when “the construction of the bridge will be completed by the end of 2020,” he added.