DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the country's longest and fully domestically funded Padma Bridge on Saturday.
The 6.15 km long road-rail four-lane bridge connects southwestern Bangladesh with the capital and other parts of the country and was built over the Padma river.
The multi-purpose road-rail bridge was built at a cost of USD 3.6 billion and is fully funded by the Government of Bangladesh.
The inauguration of the Padma Bridge is of paramount importance as the structure was built entirely with domestic funding, defying the speculations of some economists that Bangladesh could raise funds according to domestic resources.
Hasina expressed deep gratitude to the people involved with the construction of the Padma bridge. "I have no complaints against anyone, but I reckon those who opposed the Padma Bridge construction plan and called it a 'pipe dream', lack self-confidence. I hope this bridge will boost their confidence," the prime minister said.
"This bridge is not just bricks, cement, iron, and concrete. This bridge is our pride, a symbol of our capacity, our strength and our dignity. This bridge belongs to the people of Bangladesh," she said.
The Padma Bridge project witnessed several engineering wonders as well as technological challenges. It emerged as the wonder structure for Bangladesh and saw the use of state-of-the-art machinery and know-how. The project was initially expected to be funded by a consortium led by the World Bank.
In 2012, it cancelled the proposed credit saying it had "credible evidence" of high-level corruption among Bangladeshi officials. Bangladesh has all through denied these allegations and preferred not to approach the international global lender for funding.
With inputs from PTI