Korean, Chinese firms jointly to collect toll

Two separate companies from South Korea and China will jointly collect tolls at the Padma Multipurpose Bridge for the next five years as service provider or operator.

The two companies - Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) and China Major Bridge Engineering Co. Ltd. (MBEC) -- will also monitor overall safety of the bridge.

Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase(CCGP) chaired by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday approved the proposal for appointing the joint venture of KEC and MBEC at a cost of Tk 692.92 crore, said Mustafa Kamal while briefing reporters after the meeting.

The proposal from the Bridges Division to appoint service provider/operator based on G2G for security and tolls from the Padma Bridge was granted in principal on August 12 in 2020.

The government had plan to open Padma Bridge for transportation by next June but on Wednesday Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that it will be launched in December this year.

The under-construction multipurpose bridge is one of the largest project of Bangladesh and 98.5 per cent of its work has been completed already.

KEC will act as the lead operator/ service provider as per the agreement that was fetched after evaluating joint technical proposals of KEC- MBEC. Responsibility regarding security of the bridge has been distributed equally among the companies.

Among them, KEC will monitor service area, approach road, toll collection, operation, intelligent traffic system establishment and traffic safety and management.

MBEC studied and collected experience of weather, earthquake prevention bearing with knowledge of river condition and connecting point of trash which will assist to operate the bridge and secure its safety. It also has experience of operating 300 bridges and 700 kilometres of expressway.

On the other hand, KEC has experience of using electronic toll collection system (ETCS) and Intelligent Transport System (ITS).

Proper security and toll collection at Padma Bridge will be ensured by the use of modern technology and joint venture of MBEC and KEC, sources said.

The Padma Multipurpose Bridge is a multipurpose road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of Ganges, under construction with Bangladesh’s own resources. 

It connects Louhajong, Munshiganj to Shariatpur and Madaripur, linking the south-west of the country, to northern and eastern regions.

Padma Multipurpose Bridge is considered to be the most challenging construction project in the history of Bangladesh. The two-level steel truss bridge carries a four-lane highway on the upper level and a single track railway on a lower level. 

The bridge with 150.12 m (492.5 ft) long 41 spans, 6.150 km (3.821 mi) total length and 22.5 m (74 ft) width, is the longest bridge in country.

The highest depth of pile of this bridge is 122 metre, which is highest among all other bridges. Padma Multipurpose Bridge, when commissioned, is expected to boost the GDP of Bangladesh by as much as 1.2 per cent.