Bangladesh Celebrates Opening of Its Longest Bridge

• Bangladesh’s longest bridge will open to the public on Sunday.
• The 4.04-mile-long (6.51-kilometre) bridge across the Padma River cost an estimated $3.6 billion.
• Padma Bridge will boost the country’s economic growth by 1.3% per year, according to experts.

Saturday, Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, celebrated the opening of the country’s longest bridge, which took eight years to construct due to political turmoil and corruption claims.

The 4.04-mile-long (6.51-kilometre) bridge across the Padma River cost an estimated $3.6 billion and was paid for with domestic funds after the World Bank and other global lending institutions failed to finance the project due to a corruption scandal involving a Canadian construction company.

The bridge, which will open to the public on Sunday, will reduce by 100 kilometres the distance between Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, and its second-largest seaport, Mongla (62 miles).

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“The bridge belongs to the people of Bangladesh. It encapsulates our passion, creativity, courage, endurance and perseverance,” Hasina said at a ceremony in Mawa, about 31 kilometres (19 miles) southwest of Dhaka.

Although not explicitly part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure programme, the bridge was constructed by the China Major Bridge Engineering Company Ltd. and is regarded by Beijing as a turning point for collaboration with Bangladesh, according to a statement from China’s Ambassador Li Jiming.

According to the China Railway Group, the Padma Bridge will eventually incorporate a rail network that connects to other Belt and Road projects and will serve as a vital link between China and a pan-Asian train network.

Economists believe that the Padma Bridge will enhance Bangladesh’s gross domestic product by an additional 1.3% per year, adding to the Asian Development Bank’s robust growth projections that Bangladesh’s $465 billion GDP will grow by 6.9% in 2021-22 and 7.1% in 2022-23.

The bridge would connect at least 21 districts in the southern and southwestern areas of Bangladesh, according to officials.

The construction of the bridge, which employed more than 4,000 engineers, was a significant technological difficulty, according to experts. The 122-meter (400-foot) depth of the underwater pilings is a world record, and it requires 41 pillars. At certain spots along the river, the water flow volume is second only to the Amazon River worldwide.

The World Bank stated in 2012 that it had discovered aspects of corruption involving a Canadian construction company in the Padma Bridge designs and opted not to fund the $1.2 billion project.

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Other financial institutions, including the Asian Development Bank, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and Islamic Development Bank, distanced themselves from the project in response to the decision. Hasina then stated that Bangladesh would construct the bridge using its own resources.

In 2017, a Superior Court in Ontario, Canada, acquitted three former top executives of the Canadian company SNC-Lavalin in an international bribery case related to the construction of a bridge.

During the construction of the bridge, Hasina also rejected the severe criticism of the political opposition, led by former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia. The opposition condemned Hasina’s administration for tripling the budget over the years and accused the authorities of corruption. Hasina dismissed the accusations.