Shawdesh desk:

The 40th span of the Padma Bridge was installed on Friday morning, making 6 kilometers stretch of the main structure visible.

Only one more span is needed to complete the 6.15-kilometre long bridge, said officials concerned.

The “2-E” span was installed over the pillars 11 and 12 at Munshganj’s Mawa end within seven days of installation of the 39th span, said Dewan Abdul Kader, executive engineer and project manager (main bridge).

A specialised floating crane took the span to the designated poles from Mawa’s Kumarbhog Construction Yard at around 9:00am. The procedure was completed at 11:0am with no glitches amid favourable weather, the engineer added.

Meanwhile, after the installation of the 40th span, the 41st span (2-F), which is the last span, will be installed on the Piers 12 and 13 within December 16.

The 6.15-km long double-layered bridge will have a total of 41 spans which would be installed on 42 piers — 21 piers at Mawa-end and other 21 piers at Jajira-end as all the piers have already become visible.

The multi-purpose Padma Bridge is expected to be opened in 2021.