Road link with Moheshkhali this month

The newly constructed bridge on Kuhelia at Badorkhali. PHOTO: STAR

Prime Minister Khaleda Zia may inaugurate the Badorkhali-Janata Bazar bridge on Kuhelia river during her two-day visit to the district starting on May 21, officials sources said yesterday. She may also inaugurate the submarine cable in Cox's Bazar linking Bangladesh with the global information superhighway.

The 34.7 metre bridge has been built by the Roads and Highways Department at a cost of Tk 27.3 crore. The cost was initially estimated at Tk 17.85 crore. It escalated as the construction took five years instead of three years as was planned, RHD sources said.

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Several governments in the past committed to construct a bridge on the river to connect Moheshkhali with the mainland.

In 1994, the then BNP government introduced a ferry service on the river. That was the first step to link Moheshkhali with mainland.

The government later planned a bridge and the then communications minister Col. Oli Ahmed laid the foundation of the proposed bridge.

The construction work began in 2000 during the tenure of Awami League government but was interrupted due to fund shortage, the sources said.

The bridge will boost economic activities in the long-neglected offshore island and bring about a change in the life of people there, local political leaders and traders said.