Meeting with WB on Padma Bridge today

A meeting between World Bank Vice President Isabel Guerrero and Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain will be held in Dhaka today, which among other things will specially focus on bank's finance for the proposed Padma Bridge project.
Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain yesterday said this while talking to journalists here after a visit to one of the five boring sites of the main bridge area at Janjira point for soil test.
Terming the meeting very important, he said the WB like other donors is very keen to finance the mega project and we expect that the size of the actual support of the WB will be more than US$ 300 million so far committed.
Maunsell AECOM, design consultant of the Padma Bridge, so far drilled at five points on both sides of the bridge, including three on a new char on the Padma at Janjira side. Two other drills were at Mawa and Jinjira.
"Primarily we find excellent soil condition, which consists of stone like rock and compact sand under the river bed," said Rafiqul Islam, chief engineer of the Bridge Authority.
However, Bangladesh University Engineering and Technology (Buet) will further test the soil, he said, adding that the depth of the piers of the bridge will depend on the strength of the soil to be confirmed after final test.
Secretary of the Bridge Division Zahid Hossain and Project Manager of Munsell AECOM, Ken Wheeler and senior officials of the ministry were present.
Syed Abul Hossain, who is steering the whole process of the most priority project of the present government, said local and foreign experts will visit the boring sites next week and final scheme design would be submitted by this month.
"Seeing the soil condition, we are hopeful that the Tk 10,000 crore bridge could be constructed much ahead of the schedule in December 2013" he said.
He said the government has already disbursed the whole amount for land acquisition and taken all out measures for rehabilitation of the families to be evicted from the project sites.
Project Manager of Munsell, Ken Wheeler said the Padma Bridge will have one of the deepest piers of the world considering its scouring pad and earthquake vulnerability.