Govt finally goes for cracks repair
The government is finally set to start the repair work on Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge late next month, five years after receiving expert recommendation.
The repairs will commence after mapping of cracks on the deck is done later this month, said Liaquat Ali, an executive engineer of the Bridges Division.
The authorities in May picked China Communication Construction Company for the Tk 243 crore job including replacement of the outdated expansion joints of the bridge. The firm will complete the work within a year.
Sophisticated methods and materials will be used to fix the defects. A type of glue will be used to repair cracks while a spray will be applied to smaller cracks to make those waterproof. Polymer will be pasted on the cracks to make sure no crack develops there in future.
Finally, the entire deck of the bridge will be carpeted with two inches of asphalt, mentioned Liaquat Ali.
A three-member expert committee led by Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury will monitor the repair work.
South Korean Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co Ltd constructed the 4.8 kilometre long rail-road bridge at a cost of Tk 4,000 crore. It was opened to public in 1998.
A team of experts in 2006 detected numerous cracks on its deck and asked the authorities to fix those urgently to ensure the bridge's 100-year lifespan is not shortened.
The group blamed faulty design of the bridge for the defects.
Following expert recommendations, the authorities halved the speed and load limits for trains.
According to the original design, the speed limit for trains was 40 kilometres per hour. It was reduced to 20 km/h for passenger trains, and 16 km/h for freight trains.
Moreover, a train with two locomotives cannot cross the bridge now. The freight trains must have empty containers in between the loaded ones.
The maximum UDL (Uniformly Distributed Load) capacity of the bridge has also reduced.
The capacity of the bridge has decreased as the successive governments failed to select a firm for the repairs.
Experts have suggested the government urgently build an exclusive railway bridge parallel to the existing one to meet the increasing demand of train service.
Communications ministry sources said an initiative has been taken in this regard sensing the existing bridge might be left out of the proposed Trans-Asian Railway, Asian Highway, and other sub-regional connectivity routes due to its poor condition.
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