Bikers taking Tk300 per head, Tk500 for two to cross Padma Bridge
Motorbike rider-sharers found themselves an opportunity to make money thanks to merrymaking people flocking to Padma Bridge to cross the dream project.
Long queues of vehicles were seen waiting to cross the long-awaited Padma Bridge which opened for public use today after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the mega structure on Saturday (25 June). Buses, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and ambulances were seen waiting in hundreds on the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway till the gates of the bridge opened at 6am.
Many flocked near the two ends of Padma Bridge to cross it over. This opened a window of opportunity for motorcycle ride sharers to make money as people were seen looking for rides to cross the bridge on.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
One ride sharer, Amir Hossain, said that he came to Padma Bridge with two passengers from Dhaka and earned Tk500.
He then started faring passengers across the Padma Bridge. He has been charging Tk300 for taking passengers from one end of the Padma Bridge to the other.
"Padma Bridge is a gift to the people from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. We are very happy about it," he said.
He urged fellow ride sharers to obey the rules.
"If I ride the bike at 60-70km per hour, I can drop the passengers across the Padma Bridge from Mawa to Bhanga in 30-40 minutes," he added.
Another rider sharer said he was very happy to be able to ride across the Padma Bridge.
Some ride sharers were charging Tk500 for Mawa-Bhanga ride across the Padma Bridge. The passengers also expressed joy.
It used to take an average of 2-3 hours to cross the mighty river Padma on the ferries, however, the dream project Padma Bridge has trimmed down that crossing time to less than 10 minutes. Motor vehicles can cross river Padma from Jajira in Shariatpur to Mawa in just 7-8 minutes using the bridge.
The Padma Bridge project has been implemented at a cost of Tk30,193.39 crore with almost 100% internal funding which is believed to bring a new world to the country's economy by connecting 21 southwestern districts through roads and railways with the capital.
Starting in 1999 with a pre-feasibility study, construction of the bridge, which has since generated numerous headlines, has had its share of delays and even courted controversy.
The construction of the main bridge was carried out by China Major Bridge Engineering Company (MBEC), a Chinese contractor Company, and the river treatment was done by Sino Hydro Corporation of China.
PM Hasina formally laid the foundation stone of Padma Bridge at Mawa in Munshiganj on 4 July in 2001. The construction of the bridge was supposed to start in 2015, but the cancellation of foreign aid for it and an increasing depth of the river, among other complications, delayed the work.
