PM opens 2 bridges on Kuakata road today

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will formally open Shaheed Sheikh Kamal Bridge and Shaheed Sheikh Jamal Bridge on Patuakhali-Kuakata road through a video conference from her office in the capital today.

A meeting will be arranged at the Deputy Commissioner's conference room in this regard and local elite will be invited at the function to be held around 11:30am, said Md Jahirul Islam, executive engineer of Patuakhali Roads and Highways Department (RHD).

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stones of the two bridges and Shaheed Sheikh Russel Bridge across three rivers on 72-km-long Patuakhali-Kuakata road on February 25 in 2012, said RHD sources.

On August 20 last year, the PM formally opened the 408.36-metre-long and 10.25-metre-wide Shaheed Sheikh Russel Bridge on the Shibbaria River at Mohipur point on Patuakhali-Kuakata road.

The three bridges are named after Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's three sons, also brothers of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Construction works of the 482.37-metre-long and 10.25-metre-wide Shaheed Sheikh Jamal Bridge on the Sonatala River at Hazipur point and 891.76-metre-long and 10.25-metre-wide Shaheed Sheikh Kamal Bridge on the Andharmanik River near Kalapara upazila town were completed in December last year.

Tourism as well as economic activities will see a boost after opening of the two bridges for vehicular movement, said Md Shafiqur Rahman Chan Mia, president of Kuakata hotel-motel owners association, also former president of Patuakhali Chamber of Commerce and Industries.