The Teesta Bridge, constructed over the Teesta River to connect Kurigram and Gaibandha, will be opened for public and vehicular movement today.
Uzzal Chowdhury, executive engineer of the local government engineering departmen in Gaibandha, confirmed the development.
The 1,490-metre bridge, one of the largest ever constructed by the LGED, stretches between Horipur under Sundarganj in Gaibandha and Chilmari under Kurigram.
According to sources, the bridge will reduce travel distance between the two districts by over 100 kilometres.
A Chinese contractor is building the PC girder bridge with financial assistance from the Saudi Development Foundation.
The total construction cost stands at Tk 730 crore 85 lakh.
Of this, Tk 279 crore 47 lakh was spent on building the main bridge, Tk 10 crore 25 lakh on approach road construction, Tk 8 crore 55 lakh on river management and Tk 6 crore on land acquisition.
The bridge has 30 pillars, with 28 located within the river and 2 on the outer banks. River control聽measure spans 3.15 kilometres on both sides of the bridge.
Additionally, a total of 57.3 kilometres of roads will be constructed on either side of the bridge 鈥� 7.3km from Chilmari Matikata Junction to the bridge, and 50km from Dhaperhat under Sadullapur to Haripur Bridge.
The bridge is expected to play a significant role in improving transportation of agricultural products to Rangpur city as well as Kurigram and Gaibandha towns.
