Page 84 - November 2020

Span of Padma

th Bridge installed

Over five kilometres of the Padma Bridge has become visible with
the installation of its 34th span. The ‘2E’span, weighing 3,150
tonnes, was installed on pillars no 7 and 8 at Mawa point on
October 25.The span was brought from Kumarbhog Construction
Yard on Saturday. Earlier, the 33rd span of the Padma
multipurpose bridge was installed on October 19. Three spans
were installed over the bridge in the current month.
Besides, the 35th span will be installed on no 2 and 3 pillar on
October 30 and the authorities concerned have set a target to install all the spans within December. A total of 42
pillars will be installed on the 6.5 kilometre bridge and 21 each will be installed on Mawa point and Shariatpur’s
Jajira point while a total 41 spans will be installed.
The construction work of Padma Bridge started in 2014. The authorities concerned expect to complete the work of
the multipurpose bridge within 2021. On January 20, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said the
bridge will be opened to traffic by 2021. Once in operation, the Padma Bridge, Bangladesh’s largest infrastructure
project till date, will connect 21 southern districts with the capital and is expected to boost the GDP by 1 percent.

Sea tourism, an uncharted
frontier for BD tourism sector

For a country that has the world's largest mangrove forest Sundarbans, the
good old port of Chattogram, sandy beach Cox’s Bazar, the beautiful Teknaf
peninsula and eye-catching Saint Martin Island, "sea tourism" can help beat
Covid blues by generating billions of dollars. All that's needed is an integrated
initiative to connect these popular destinations by marine terminals.
While sea tourism has the potential to help Bangladesh get the 'developed
country' status by 2041, at the same time, the government should take
appropriate steps like fixing environmental taxes for tourists not only to
generate revenue but also to protect the country’s valuable resources.

Dhaka to The government has initiated a move to bring necessary
amend labor law to changes in the existing labour law to make it time-befitting
and address the European Union's (EU) concern over
retain EU GSP retaining the trade preference there. To this effect, the
ministry of labour and employment (MoLE) issued a
circular on October 11, forming a 13-member tripartite
committee. The government had last amended the labour
law in 2018 and changed 50 issues in several sections and
schedules.
Immediately after the Rana Plaza building collapse in
2013, the government had also amended 87 issues in
several sections, mainly due to international pressure for
improving the labour rights especially in the country's
readymade garment sector. The committee will prepare a
draft of the amended labour law in line with the 'suggested
actions on labour rights' provided by the EU in November
last to continue the preferential tariff benefits there under
the new Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP).

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