Engineers have completed the construction of all 294 piles of the long-awaited Padma Multiporpuse Bridge.
They started the work on the number seven pile at 11:35am yesterday and finished it after eight hours at 8:20pm at the number 26 pier of the bridge.
"It is a matter of great joy that the most challenging task of the bridge is now over with completion of this work,” said executive engineer (Main bridge ) Dewan Mohammad Abudul Quader.
“It's a real victory against the mighty Padma River and its rough nature,” he said.
Engineer Dewan said the last piling work on the bottom section was completed on Wednesday and the top section’s tube was put on Thursday.
Later, incessant rains interrupted the welding work which took two more days. The pile driving started on Sunday after the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and it is done now, he added.
The 120-metre long and 3-metre width pile was made with China-made steel plate at Mawa Construction Yard.
The pile was driven into the the riverbed where 140,000 cubic metres of water flows per second.
Earlier, engineers had faced complications due to soft ground soil at the Mawa point in Munshiganj. The work was then shifted to Jazira point in Shariatpur district, UNB reports.
"That was really a challenging job to finalise the design of the piers for those complications. But lastly the work is done," engineer Dewan said.
Padma bridge authorities said the construction of all the piers is expected to be completed within this year while the span installation work will continue.
An engineer said China Major Bridge Engineering Construction Company was given a deadline till July 31 for the piling work but they have completed the work two weeks ahead of the schedule.
The main bridge will be on 41 spans to be installed on 42 piers. The total 42 piers will be placed on 294 piles.
Meanwhile, the 14th span was installed on June 29 making 2,100 metres of the 6.15-km long mega structure visible. The ‘3-C’ span was set up on pillars 15 and 16.
Work on the country’s largest bridge started in December 2015. The structure started becoming visible with the installation of 150-metre span on pillars 37 and 38 on October 30, 2017.
