Importance of  Padma Bridge

পদ্মা সেতুর গুরুত্ব  

 

Government consistently telling the press that Padma Bridge is going to increase Bangladesh’s GDP growth up to 1.2-1.5 percent. Well exact numbers can’t be measured before construction and several years of use. But in general, if anyone asks nearby citizens what this bridge means to them, the answer will be the same, it’s a dream .

 

Padma Bridge is geographically the most demanded project for Bangladesh. To understand it’s significance you have to understand Bangladesh’s geography and current infrastructure first.

Bangladesh is a plain and very small country that’s main land is divided by three enormous rivers Padma, Meghna and Jamuna. Its capital and the biggest city Dhaka is located almost in the middle of the country. Now, we all know that the economy is all about circulation of money, goods and people. Faster and smoother the circulation means more progress and prosperity. But huge rivers like Padma, Meghna and Jamuna are tough obstacles for this. Bigger  river means bigger bridges. And bigger bridges don't come cheap.

Anyway, Bangladesh government has managed to build bridges over Jamuna and Meghna’s narrow part. Now if you look at the first picture above you’ll see that there is an existing bridge over Padma and one is under construction. Here we are talking about the constructing one. If you look back again you’ll see that Padma and Meghna separate Bangladesh’s South-East part from Dhaka, Narayanganj, Mymensingh, Comilla, Chittagong and other parts. Names I’ve just mentioned are the industrial areas of the country. And none of it has a continuous road link with the south-east part. To transport among these areas one has to cross Padma or Meghna. 

 

 

Under Construction Padma Bridge 

 Bangladesh inland water transport authority [BIWTA] currently provides a ferry service between Munshi Ganj and Madaripur zila which crosses vehicles. It is also the same location where Padma Bridge is under construction. There are also speed boats and small vessels which transport people. But both services are time costly, sometimes becoming very irritating when one needs to wait several days to have a serial to cross their vehicles by ferry. 

Patients suffer the most and sometimes die in the ambulance while waiting to cross the river. Padma is an unpredictable river and this area has a huge traffic too which sometimes become the cause for deadly accidents. Generally crossing Padma by small vessels takes on average two to two and half hours. And ferry’s could take hours to week.

 In winter, fogs make it even worse. After construction of this bridge, crossing this river will take just 6 to 10 minutes. If you go more south, coastal districts, their communication with Dhaka Narayanganj is more time costly. For transporting they have to rely on waterways which are cheap and comfortable but very slow and time costly. Bhola, Barguna, Patuakhali , Barisal, these district’s[zilla] use ships  to transport to Dhaka and it takes twelve to sixteen hours. Keeping all this in mind, intrapreneurs and investors skips Bangladesh’s south-east area. That’s why this part of the country hasn’t developed much. This is also the reason why 70% of the workers who work abroad are from this region of the country.

In early 2000 Bangladesh govt built a road bridge over Padma river connecting Kustia and Pabna district, vastly connecting  the north-east part and south-east part. This made a huge change around Pabna and Kustia, but it couldn’t spread much to other districts. Still the majority of the south-east area needs good connectivity with the capital Dhaka and its surrounding industrial areas. The Padma Bridge, that is currently under construction will change this area’s face totally.

 

 Bangladesh govt has a massive plan around This Bridge. There is a Sea port in Bagerhat district named Mongla since 1950, fully functional but Dhaka couldn’t use it properly for lack of road rail link and low depth of the port. Both will be solved soon. There is another port under construction at Payra, Patuakhali district with 12 m of depth. Power Plants, wide roads are under construction too. 

There is also a survey going to find out the cost and best route for the rail line to Barisal district and Payra port. Because there is good connectivity between the north-east and south-east part , industries of the north-east region could use Mongla or Payra Port because the distance between these two ports are less than Chittagong or Matarbari.

 But all of these projects could fail if investors and intrapreneurs show no interest in investing on this part. But having in mind Bangladesh’s last ten years economic history I don’t think that would be an issue. And there is another thing that could shape this area too. For many years millions of hard working men and women from this part went abroad in search of a good job and a healthy salary. Still they are sending money to their families. That remittance is also contributing to the growth of our economy. So  despite less development this area becomes more wealthy and when these people will get a favorable environment they or their family will invest. So there is a huge opportunity for the Barisal and Khulna division.