Lebukhali Payra Bridge — Local services in Barishal Division

Beautiful bridge. Payra Bridge is a road bridge across the Burishwar River. It connects Barisal and Patuakhali, linking the southwest of the country to the northern regions. Kuakata Beach is easily accessible from the bridge. Besides, this bridge connects Port of Payra with Dhaka.

A student from Patuakhali wrote a letter to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina requesting to build a bridge over the river on which the bridge is located. After reading the letter, the Prime Minister assured to build the bridge. In 2012, the Department of Roads and Highways adopted a plan to build the Payra Bridge. At that time its construction cost was estimated at Tk 4.58 billion. The bridge is funded by Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and OPEC Fund for International Development. On March 13, 2013, Sheikh Hasina laid the foundation stone of the bridge. Two years later, the budget for the bridge was doubled by revising the project. One year later, on July 24, the Longjian Road and Bridge Company was commissioned to build the bridge. In 2018, the construction work was delayed due to an error in the design of the bridge. However, in 2019, the final construction cost of the bridge was fixed at Tk 14.46 billion and the design of the bridge was changed. The four-lane bridge was scheduled to be completed in June 2020. But due to the COVID-19 epidemic, the work could not be completed on time. Later, the completion date was postponed to June 2022. The bridge was inaugurated on 28 October 2021.

Payra Bridge is one of the first bridges in Bangladesh to have a bridge health monitoring system. The length of the bridge is 1.48 km. The bridge has been constructed at a height of 18.3 meters above the water level to facilitate navigation. Not more than one pillar of this bridge has been placed...

The Barisal-Patuakhali road extends to Kuakata. It is the communication system of the southern region with important places of the country including Dhaka. As a result of construction of bridges on different rivers from Dhaka to Barisal, people do not have to cross the ferry to reach by road. But it was impossible to reach Patuakhali without a ferry on the Payra river. It would also be a waste of money over time. Therefore, the Department of Roads and Highways of the Government of Bangladesh formulated a development project for the construction of Pigeon Bridge. In this project, it was planned to build this bridge on the river Payra at Bakerganj and Lebukhali of Dumki upazila on Barisal-Patuakhali road. The project received government approval at the ECNEC meeting on 8 May 2012. The implementation period is from April 2012 to December 2017. The cost is estimated at 413 crore 29 lakh. Of this, Tk 338.26 crore was spent from foreign aid i.e. Kuwait fund. The government of Bangladesh will provide 6 crore 3 lakh rupees.

In case of delay in implementation of the project, the expenditure estimate was increased to Tk. 418.56 crore on May 31, 2015. In 2017, the construction of this bridge gained momentum again by accepting the tender of the bridge construction company. The government said construction of the bridge would begin soon. The actual construction work of the bridge will start when the bridge construction contractor is appointed. However, it is proposed to increase the cost again. The revised cost of the second phase is estimated at Tk 1,026.62 crore. Expenditure increases to 75 crore 53 lakh rupees. The time was extended to 4 years, that is,...

For the first time in the country, 'Bridge Health Monitor' is being installed on this bridge. As a result, if there is a possibility of damage to the vibration system of the bridge due to natural disasters such as lightning and earthquakes or vehicles carrying extra goods, it will give a signal. This technology is there to avoid the environmental damage of the bridge.

Apart from this, safety pillars have been placed on the sides of the bridge pillars. It will be possible to prevent the damage of the bridge due to the shock of something, the stability of the bridge will increase. The lights will be lit by supplying power to the bridge through a separate substation. There is also solar power system.

According to project sources, the government approved the bridge construction project in May 2012. The foreign-funded bridge was supposed to be completed by December 2016 and was estimated to cost Tk 413.28 crore at that time. The consultants prepared the tender documents with many changes to the initial design of the bridge and the consent of the donor agency was sought at each stage of the tender process. As a result, the construction work was delayed.

In addition, the project cost was estimated at the initial stage based on a conceptual design. But later the actual construction cost is finalized as per the detailed design. As a result, the construction cost of the bridge increases. The last contract price for the construction of this bridge was 1 thousand 170 crore taka. However, the construction of the bridge is costing 1118 million taka. 52 crores are...