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Karnafuli Bridge a 919.48m long road bridge over the
karnafuli
river at Chandgaon upazila, Chittagong district. Basically it is a steel
truss bridge on steel pile foundation. The people of Chittagong and its
adjoining area were anxiously looking for a bridge over the river Karnafuli
to extend the city beyond the Karnafuli river to the southern side and
to link cox's
bazar and other areas by road.
The Government of Bangladesh negotiated with the Royal
Dutch Government of the Netherlands for constructing the Karnafuli Bridge
with their assistance. The Dutch Government found the project economic,
feasible and agreed to construct a bridge over the Karnafuli in Chittagong
by reusing a 922m portion of their Eastern Scheldt Bridge under the Dutch
Grant BD/86/030. A contract was signed in Dhaka in January 1988 with a
Dutch joint venture Interbeton/HCG b.v. for the construction of the bridge.
The bridge was scheduled to be completed in December 1989. As per terms
of the mutual understanding between the two governments the approach roads
were to be constructed by the Bangladesh Government. However, the main
bridge was completed in June 1989. Recently the bridge has been named
as Shah Amanat Bridge.
The location of the main bridge is about 700m upstream
of Iqabal Ghat, about 1.5 km upstream of Sadarghat and about 7 km downstream
of Kalurghat Railway Bridge, Chittagong. The carriageway is 7m wide and
is two laned. The sidewalk is 1.5m on either side. The floor or decking
of the bridge is made up of Azobe timber with protective bituminous stone
drips coating. Navigational clearance (ie difference between river water
level and base of the bridge) is 12.2 m. The Bridge can resist the wind
force upto 200 km per hour. On account of earthquake allowable horizontal
force on the bridge is 0.10 G. Maximum allowable velocity of current is
2.5m/sec. Maximum allowable temperature variation is 45ºC. Allowable utility
line loading is 3 KN/m. Total cost of the project including main bridge
and approach roads was Tk 1415.3 million, while total cost of the main
bridge was Tk 775.4 million.
The length of the roads from Chittagong side is 5 km
and from patiya
side is 10.5 km. Total length of the roads including bridge is 16.5 km.
The width of the pavement from Bahaddarhat to Fakirer Tek is 7.3m and
between Patiya and Anwara road portion is 5.48 m. The crest width of road
from Bahaddarhat to Fakirer Tek is 12.2m and between Patiya and Anwara
is 9.75m.
[Sifatul Quader Chowdhury and Masud Hasan Chowdhury]
See map in
chittagong district.
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