A joint venture between China State Construction (CSCEC) and Bangladesh’s Spectra Engineers has been chosen to build the country’s longest steel-arch bridge, the Financial Express reports.
The Kewatkhali Bridge will be located in the city of Mymensingh, about 110km north of Dhaka. The joint venture will handle “work package one”, which is worth $190m, roughly two-thirds of the total $290m value of the project.
This involves erecting a 1.1km bridge over the Brahmaputra River with a 320m steel arch, with a look reminiscent of the UK’s Tyne Bridge, or the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has agreed to provide $260m of the cost of the project, which is due to be completed by June 2025.
According to the bank, the aim of the project is “to address the cross-river bottleneck between Mymensingh and Shambhugonj on the Dhaka–Mymensingh–India corridor”. The bridge aims to improve connectivity for Mymensingh’s land port and Chinese-style special economic zones.
