Officials visit bridge site to realise kid's dream

A seven-member team from the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges visited the proposed site of Payra bridge on Patuakhali-Mirzaganj road yesterday.

The decision to build the bridge on the Payra river came following the prime minister's recent assurance in response to the letter of a Class-IV student of Patuakhali Government Jubilee High School, requesting steps to build a bridge on the river. 

The student, Shirshendu Biswas also wrote an essay on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's childhood at a programme marking the death anniversary of the Father of the Nation on August 15 this year and achieved the third position at the competition.

The seven-member team was formed on October 18, led by Alim Uddin Ahmed, joint secretary of the Bridges Division under the ministry.

The team took part in a meeting with AKM Shamimul Haq Siddikee, deputy commissioner (DC) of Patuakhali, and Roads and Highways Department (RHD) officials at the DC office at 9:00am and visited the proposed bridge site around 11:00am.

"We are trying to build the Payra bridge within a short time and looking for foreign aid for the purpose. The bridge would play vital role to communicate between Mongla sea port and Payra sea port," the team leader said after visiting the spot.

Ibn Alam Hasan, chief engineer of RHD, already sent a report to the road transport and bridges ministry on the proposed bridge, he said.

The two-lane bridge would be 1375-metre-long and 10.76-metre-wide and connect Patuakhali district headquarters, Kuakata sea beach, Payra sea port in the east and Mirzaganj upazila under Patuakhali, Barguna, Jhalakathi, and Pirojpur districts, Mongla sea port and Khulna divisional city in the west, RHD sources said.