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The Padma Bridge in Bangladesh is open to traffic from Sunday
Photo: SOPA Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
To be precise, it is 6.51 kilometers long - and cost an estimated 3.6 billion dollars: On Saturday, Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the country's longest bridge over the Padma River, a tributary of the Ganges.
The construction had taken eight years and had to be repeatedly interrupted due to political conflicts in the country.
The World Bank and other international lenders who initially agreed to finance the mega-project have since backed out due to allegations of corruption.
Finally, the construction was lifted with the help of local funds.
The bridge, which opens to the public on Sunday, is expected to improve connections to the capital Dhaka and shorten the route to Bangladesh's second largest seaport by 100 kilometers.
In addition, it is intended to connect more than 20 districts in southern and southwestern Bangladesh.
"The bridge belongs to the people of Bangladesh," said Prime Minister Hasina at the opening ceremony.
»She embodies our passion, creativity, courage, perseverance and perseverance.«
More than 4,000 engineers are said to have been involved in the construction of the bridge, which presented a challenge, especially from a technical point of view: the bridge's underwater pillars are the longest in the world, reaching 122 meters deep.
A total of 41 piers were required to support the structure.
In the coming years, the bridge is to be additionally equipped with rails, which in turn are to be connected to Chinese and pan-Asian networks.
The bridge was designed by a Chinese construction company - and is seen by Beijing as a milestone in China-Bangladesh cooperation.
Economists predict that the Padma Bridge will boost Bangladesh's gross domestic product by 1.3 percent a year.
Prime Minister Hasina also defied the bitter criticism of her political opposition during the construction: She accused Hasina's government of having tripled the construction costs over the years and accused the authorities of corruption.
Hasina always rejected the allegations.
nil/AP