Tk 82.19 lakh collected in tolls in 8 hours

The authorities of the Padma Bridge collected Tk 82.19 lakh in tolls in the first eight hours on Sunday, the first day of its opening to public.

Of this, Tk 46,89,550 was collected at the Mawa toll plaza and Tk 35,29,500 at Zajira.

A total of 15,200 vehicles used the bridge in the first eight hours, and 60 per cent of them were motorcycles. The bridge authorities said the number exceeded their expectations.

The Bangladesh Bridge Authority said as per the government forecast, 24,000 vehicles would use the bridge every day.

But the number already crossed 15,000 in the first eight hours, with 8,438 vehicles entering from Mawa and 6,762 from Zajira.

“We will get traffic data on the first 24 hours at 6am on Monday (today),” Bangladesh Bridge Authority Superintendent Engineer Tofazzel Hossian told The Business Post.

In the morning, the queue of vehicles stretched to around four kilometres around the bridge area. The situation started to be normal at 11am.

Tofazzel said traffic was heavy from 6am to 9am as many vehicles queued before toll collection started officially.

“Many people came to see the bridge. We think the number of enthusiastic visitors will drop from tomorrow.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina unveiled the plaque of the 6.15km bridge in Munshiganj on Saturday. She was also the first person to cross the bridge by paying tolls soon after inaugurating it.

On June 17, the authorities concerned conducted a test run for the toll plaza at Mawa.