CA unveils foundation stone of Kalurghat Bridge

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus unveiled the long-awaited foundation stone of the Kalurghat rail-cum-road bridge over the Karnaphuli River on Wednesday.

With the unveiling of the foundation stone of the bridge during his first-ever visit to his home district after assuming office last year, the long cherished dream of people of the city’s outskirt upazilas -Boalkhali, Patiya and South Chattogram- was materialized.  

However, his name was not inscribed on the plaque breaking the long convention of the country’s propaganda-based development culture. 

The Chief Adviser unveiled the foundation stone at the Chattogram Circuit House at around 11am on Wednesday. 

The existing century-old bridge is in very dilapidated condition and still being used for vehicular movement as well as for trains to and from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar posing a serious risk for a long time.  

According to the primary project outline, the tender has been invited to appoint a consultant for the project that got approval at ECNEC in 2024. Eight domestic and foreign companies have participated in the tender and the next process is to invite the Expression of Interest (EoI) from the bidders concerned.  

It will take about six months to complete the appointment in two phases.  

After that, the project authorities will finalize the land acquisition and detailed design of the project and start the physical work in mid-2026.  The railway aims to complete the construction of the 700-meter-long main bridge by 2030.  The total length of the bridge will be 11 kilometres and the width will be 100 feet. 

However, the length of the main bridge over the river will be only 700 meters. Viaducts of four and a half kilometres will be constructed on both sides. The extra-duty type bridge will have two dual-gauge railway tracks on one side and a standard two-lane road (each lane 18 feet) on the other side, as well as service lanes (five feet each) on both sides for pedestrian crossing. The bridge will have a total of seven spans, including five inside the river.