The construction of Padma Bridge, which got pace few months back overcoming its foundation-related problems since 2015, was impeded again in February due to absence of an adequate number of Chinese staff following coronavirus outbreak.
Sources said one-third of the staff of China Major Bridge Engineering Corporation Ltd (CMBEC) could not join their work until February as they were either kept in quarantine or not allowed to leave their own country.
Key staffers included deputy project manager, engineers and technicians etc.
During a visit to the project's Mawa and Janjira sites on Thursday, the FE correspondent found hardly any Chinese except four to five staff on the top of the bridge and a pier site.
The number of local staff was also very thin.
Around 15 local workers were busy making rod structure of the last troubled-pier of the bridge for carrying out concrete mixture work.
The workers on the site of pier 26 said they were now learning about rod framing work and carrying out the work under the supervision of local engineers.
The Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project (PMBP) had faced the design problem in 14 piers out of 42 at the initial stage of the construction work in 2015.
With the completion of pier numbers 26, 27, 10 and 11, the project was set to finish entire underwater and substructures which meant the work of pier and pier cap by April.
Sources said the targeted work in February has slowed down as 236 staff members out of total 665 of CMBEC could not join the project sites. Some 198 staffers are still in China and 131 of them are quarantined.
A reliable source said as the CMBEC headquarters is located in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak of the deadly virus, there is a thin possibility that the Chinese staff could return soon. Some 43 CMBEC staffers who went to China live in Wuhan.
When asked about the progress of the project during the January-February period, Project Director Shafiqul Islam said the work on the Padma bridge site could be carried out in January as per the plan. But he admitted that it slowed in February.
"We designed the work plan in January, considering the absence of Chinese staff as they would take time to join the project after celebrations of Chinese New Year. But the impact was reflected in the progress report in February," he told the FE over phone.
They have yet to receive the progress report of February, he added.
The PD said the continuation of this kind of situation may affect the project. "We still believe we can meet the target if the situation (coronavirus) does not deteriorate further."
However, another project official, preferring anonymity, said if the situation does not improve immediately, the project will miss the peak construction season. It could impede the completion of the project, he added.
The PMB project, being implemented under the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA), recorded overall 78 per cent progress until January. Progress of the bridge part was 86 per cent and river training work 70 per cent.
With placing 25th span on February 21, 3.7 kilometres of the 6.15-km Padma Bridge are now visible. More than one kilometre road surface has also been done by placing over 360 road slabs out of 3,000.
During the visit, it was found that slab placing work was going at the Janjira site in presence of three Chinese staff members.
Though the project office has set the target to complete placing the rest of 16 spans by June, assembling of only one span was found at the Mawa site.
