Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said the construction of the 6.15-kilometre Padma Bridge is progressing fast as 67 percent overall work of the project has been completed. “The overall progress of Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project has reached 67 percent now while 76 percent work of the main bridge has been done so far, reports BSS. Work of connecting roads has been completed,” he told reporters after a meeting with concerned officials of several mega projects at the Setu Bhaban in Dhaka. Quader, also Awami League General Secretary, said the progress of river training is now 55 percent as work of three kilometers out of six has been done and rest of the works will be completed by next December. He said 12 spans out of 23 have been installed so far at Mawa point of the bridge and another one will be installed by May 25. The minister said 236 piles out of total 262 have been set up and work of the rest 26 piles would be completed by July next. Work of 25 piers of main bridge among 42 has been done and work of six others will be completed by this June while work of the rest 11 piers is underway, he added. About other mega projects, he said the 3.4-kilometer four-lane underwater Karnaphuli river tunnel will be constructed at a cost of Taka 9880.40 crore. Quader expressed his optimism that the construction of the Karnaphuli tunnel project will end by 2022 as the project progress was 38 percent till April 30, 2019. Earlier at the meeting, it was said that the first phase of Dhaka Elevated Expressway PPP Project will not end within the projected time and it is likely to end by November this year and the second phase will end by 2020 and the third phase will end by 2022. According to sources, works of 1333 piles, 300 pile caps, 79 cross beams and 187 columns and 186 I-girders have been completed while partial work of 119 columns has been done. Bridges Division Senior Secretary Khandker Anwarul Islam, Bridge Division Chief Engineer Md Ferdous and Project Director of Padma Multipurpose Bridge Project Md Shafiqul Islam attended the meeting, among others.