Bangladesh is gearing up to open its first river tunnel by the end of 2022.

[Homo Sapiens]

Bangladesh is gearing up to open its first river tunnel by the end of 2022​

Mintu Chowdhury, Chattogram Bureau, bdnews24.com
Published: 02 Jul 2022 01:35 AM BdST Updated: 02 Jul 2022 02:18 AM BdST

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After opening the Padma Bridge, Bangladesh is on its way to fulfilling another dream with the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel, the first underwater expressway in the country, expected to be open to traffic by the end of 2022.​

The work, including the construction of the main tunnel and the approach roads in Chattogram, is 86 percent complete, according to Harunur Rashid Chowdhury, director of Construction of Multilane Road Tunnel Under River Karnaphuli Project.
"We are trying to complete the work on time."

The main tunnel is 3.32 kilometres long. It has two tubes, each 2.45 km long, and has a diameter of 10.80 metres. Each tube will consist of two lanes. The tubes are 12 metres apart from each other.

There will be a 5.35 km connecting road on the west and east ends of the main tunnel, along with a 727-metre long bridge.
The tunnel goes under the Karnaphuli at the Patenga Naval Academy point in the port city to a depth of 18m to 31m to Anwara Upazila on the other side of the river.

Highlighting the challenges of constructing the tunnel, the project director said, "It is not [an ordinary] bridge or a road. After the completion of the work, all issues, including the suitability with running vehicles, will be checked and then it will be opened to traffic.”

The government hopes that with the opening of the Bangabandhu Tunnel, life on the two banks of the river will change and economic activities will expand greatly.

There will be better connectivity between the tourist city Cox’s Bazar, southern Chattogram and the rest of the country once the tunnel is open. It will also decrease the number of vehicles using the two bridges over the river.

South of the river in Anwara lies the Korean and Chinese export processing zones, the CUFL factory and Parki Beach. All routes to Cox's Bazar, Banshkhali and Matarbari power station and deep seaport go through Anwara.

Chattogram city would be developed as "one city two towns", like China's Shanghai city through the construction of the tunnel, the government says.

Work on the project began in December 2017, two years after getting the greenlight.

But the pace of work was a bit slow during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, from March to the first week of September, the construction work progressed only 5 percent.

Import of equipment from abroad faced challenges due to the pandemic, hindering the work, officials said.
The construction of the two tubes of the tunnel under the river has already been completed. The first tube took 17 months to complete, but the second one was completed in 10 months. Structural work on the tunnel is currently ongoing.

With the aim of connecting the Asian Highway and building a new road link between Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox's Bazar, the China Communication and Construction Company Limited (CCCC) is constructing the tunnel.

The government also hopes that the tunnel will play a role in increasing the existing facilities of Chattogram port and accelerating the construction of the proposed deep sea port in Matarbari.

There are five access points to the tunnel from its north end facing the port city -- Outer Ring Road, Elevated Expressway, Kathgarh Road, Airport Road and Patenga Beach Road.

Jointly funded by Bangladesh and China, the initial cost of the project was estimated at Tk 98.8 billion. The cost was subsequently revised up to Tk 103.74 billion.

Inaugurating the Padma Bridge on Jun 25, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she hoped to launch two more mega projects in the country, metro rail and Bangabandhu Tunnel, this year.
[Writing in English by Arshi Fatiha Quazi]

Bangladesh is gearing up to open its first river tunnel by the end of 2022

After opening the Padma Bridge, Bangladesh is on its way to fulfilling another dream with the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel, the first underwater expressway in the country, expected to be open to traffic by the end of 2022.

bdnews24.com

 

[Destranator]

@bluesky What do you think of the idea of Bangladesh procuring its own tunnel boring machines and taking up experimental tunnelling projects to build expertise? The projects will intially be slow and wasteful in nature but eventually we can build our own tunnels.
Both the govt and the private projects can borrow the machines for their projects.
As the country develops, we will need more cross river and urban tunnels for road and rail connectivity without impacting river navigation and existing built environment too much.

 

[PadmaBridge]

@bluesky What do you think of the idea of Bangladesh procuring its own tunnel boring machines and taking up experimental tunnelling projects to build expertise? The projects will intially be slow and wasteful in nature but eventually we can build our own tunnels.
Both the govt and the private projects can borrow the machines for their projects.
As the country develops, we will need more cross river and urban tunnels for road and rail connectivity without impacting river navigation and existing built environment too much.

I support your idea!

Our soil is really soft.

So tunnelling is easy.

We also don’t have many tall buildings.

Thus, our bypass roads should be tunnels.

This is great work by Hasina.

She is delivering a lot of firsts:

1. First bridge on the Padma
2. First river tunnel
3. First nuclear power station
4. First deep sea port
5. First electricity surplus. Wiped out economy killing load shedding

Etc etc

 

[Destranator]

I support your idea!

Our soil is really soft.

So tunnelling is easy.

We also don’t have many tall buildings.

Thus, our bypass roads should be tunnels.

This is great work by Hasina.

She is delivering a lot of firsts:

1. First bridge on the Padma
2. First river tunnel
3. First nuclear power station
4. First deep sea port
5. First electricity surplus. Wiped out economy killing load shedding

Etc etc

Soft soil actually makes it harder to tunnel as you have to dig deeper for harder rock beds. In the same vein, given that tunnelling is difficult and expensive in Bangladesh, we should localise tunnelling works as much as possible to minimise costs.

 

[Wergeland]

Soft soil actually makes it harder to tunnel as you have to dig deeper for harder rock beds. In the same vein, given that tunnelling is difficult and expensive in Bangladesh, we should localise tunnelling works as much as possible to minimise costs.

Bro there are no harder rock beds in 90% of BD. The sedimentary column is 10 to 17 km thick depending on where in country you are.

 

[bluesky]

@bluesky What do you think of the idea of Bangladesh procuring its own tunnel boring machines and taking up experimental tunnelling projects to build expertise? The projects will intially be slow and wasteful in nature but eventually we can build our own tunnels.
Both the govt and the private projects can borrow the machines for their projects.
As the country develops, we will need more cross river and urban tunnels for road and rail connectivity without impacting river navigation and existing built environment too much.

Please read the following story minutely:

নবীন একজন ঋষি লোকালয় ছেড়ে সৃষ্টিকর্তার ধ্যানের জন্য হিমালয়ের একটি উঁচু জায়গা বেছে নিলেন তার থাকার জন্য আর ধ্যানে মগ্ন থাকার জন্য। এরকম জায়গা আর হয়না , চারিদিকে নিঃশ্চুপ পাহাড়, কোনো লোকবসতি থাকলেও তা অনেক দূরে। ঋষি ধান্যে মগ্ন হলেন ও দিনকাল সব ভুলে গ্যালেন।

কিন্তু সমস্যা হল তার শরীর নিয়ে। যতই ঋষি হউক না কেন আসলে তো আর তিনি একজন দেবতা নন, তিনি একজন রক্তমাংসের মানুষ। তারও তো ক্ষিধে পায়। তিনি গ্রামে গিয়ে তার সমস্যার কথা জানালে গ্রামবাসীরা তাকে বললো, দেবতা, একটা গাইগরু পুষলে কিরকম হয় ? আমরা আপনাকে একটা গরু দিই, আপনি প্রতিদিন সেই গরুর দুধপান করবেন।

ঋষি খুশিমনে গাইটি সাথে করে নিয়ে এলেন তাঁর কুটিরে। তিনি ধ্যানে মগ্ন থাকেন কিন্তু গাইটা মাঝে মাঝে হান্বা হান্বা করে চিৎকার করে ক্ষিধে লাগলে। হৃষীকে ধ্যান ভেঙে গরুর খাবার খুঁজতে সময় দিতে হয়। এ তো ভারী মুশকিল হলো তার ধ্যানে বিঘ্ন ঘটতে থাকলো।

আবার তিনি গ্রামে গিয়ে সবার সঙ্গে পরামর্শ করলে তারা বললো এতে চিন্তার কি আছে ? আমরা একটা বাচ্চা ছেলে আপনাকে দিয়ে দিই, সেই গরুর ঘাস কাটা থেকে দুধ দোওয়া পর্যন্ত সব কাজ করে দিলে ল্যাঠা চুকে গেল। ঋষি খুব সন্তুষ্ট মনে ছেলেটাকে নিয়ে এসে তাঁর কুটিরের পাশে থাকার ব্যবস্থা করলেন। কয়েকদিন ভালোই চললো।

এরপর ছেলেটি এসে হৃষীকে বললো "দেবতা ঠাকুর গো , আর যে আমি পারছিনা গো, আমার যে ক্ষিধেয় প্রাণ যায় যায় অবস্থা। কিছু না খেলে যে বাঁচিনা"। আরে তাইতো ছেলেটার খাবার কে তৈরী করবে ? না ছেলেটা, না ঋষি কেউই তারা রাঁধতে পারেনা। অগত্যা তারা দুজনে আবার সেই গ্রামে গেল পরামর্শ করার জন্য যে কি করা যায়। গ্রামের মুরুব্বিরা বললো দেবতা, ঘরে লক্ষী নিয়ে আসলে সাথে সাথে সমস্যার সমাধান হয়ে যাবে।

ঋষির কুটিরে সুন্দরী কচি এক বৌ এল গো। কিন্তু, তা হলে কি হবে ঋষি আর ধ্যানে মগ্ন থাকতে পারেননা। বারেে বারেই বৌয়ের কথা মনে পড়ে, দেখতে ইচ্ছা হয় আর কথা বলতে ইচ্ছে হয়। ঋষির ধ্যান শেষ হলো, তিনি সংসার ধর্ম পালন করতে লাগলেন।

Similarly, when BD imports a tunneling machine, it will have to bring in the Operators, Helpers, and hundred other things from a foreign country, because the local talents are unable to operate the machine.

শেষ পর্যন্ত যে লাউ সেই কদুই। রাজনীতিবিদ/ আমলা থেকে শুরু করে আমরা সবাই যে চরিত্রের লোক তাতে আপনার সুন্দর প্রস্তাব কোনোদিন বাস্তবায়িত হবেনা। নিজেরা তৈরী করেন কষ্ট করে। তাহলে হয়তোবা সম্ভব হতে পারে।

বাংলাদেশ এমন একটি দেশ যার মানুষেরা একটা স্টিম ইঞ্জিন পর্যন্ত তৈরী করে দেখাতে পারেনি। জাপানে আছি. এখানে অনেক পার্ক আছে যেখানে ১২০ বছর বা তার আগে তৈরী করা স্টিম ইঞ্জিন রাখা আছে. যেখানে জাপানি বাচ্চারা মায়েদের সাথে যায় এবং দেখে তাদের পূর্ব পুরুষদের তৈরী ইঞ্জিন।

 

[Bilal9]

Bro there are no harder rock beds in 90% of BD. The sedimentary column is 10 to 17 km thick depending on where in country you are.

Exactly.

Bangladesh is floating on a huge layer of silt (poli-mati). This is how the delta was formed with silt deposits and sediment flowing down from the Himalayas - over hundreds of millions of years.

That is why we are the agricultural wonder of the world. You throw down seed and things grow.

 

[PadmaBridge]

Soft soil actually makes it harder to tunnel as you have to dig deeper for harder rock beds. In the same vein, given that tunnelling is difficult and expensive in Bangladesh, we should localise tunnelling works as much as possible to minimise costs.

I don’t know why you think tunnels need rock bed.

In NY their subway is literally a few meters deep.

Our soil is so soft - machines will cut through it like cheese grater.

I will go further and say our rail network needs to be mostly underground.

 

[Bilal9]

I don’t know why you think tunnels need rock bed.

In NY their subway is literally a few meters deep.

Our soil is so soft - machines will cut through it like cheese grater.

I will go further and say our rail network needs to be mostly underground.

Subways are of two types usually.

One is the deep underground type and is built with concrete interlocking plates as skeleton tube after boring deep tunnels (see animation below). The next phases of the Dhaka Metros will be built like this -as was the Karnaphuli tunnel. Parts of the Mumbai Metro are also being built like this.

The other is the "cut and cover" type which is built as a large square ditch lined with a "U" shaped concrete RCC shell and then a beamed concrete roof (or vaulted concrete roof) is placed on top of it. This is what you are talking about and will be a lot cheaper to build. Kolkata Metro was built like this back in the day, my understanding.

The roofs (and the plates) used in these tunnels have to bear super heavy loads, so they are usually cast with heavy duty tor steel re-bars and special micro-fine cement. Only a few countries make micro fine cement in the world, Australia is one of them.

The cement for the 120 meter piles in the Padma Bridge also used Micro-fine cement to reinforce them, a world first. In fact Padma Bridge pioneered a lot of new bridge- building techniques for the first time.

 

[PadmaBridge]

Subways are of two types usually.

One is the deep underground type and is built with concrete interlocking plates as skeleton tube after boring deep tunnels (see animation below). The next phases of the Dhaka Metros will be built like this -as was the Karnaphuli tunnel. Parts of the Mumbai Metro are also being built like this.

The other is the "cut and cover" type which is built as a large square ditch lined with a "U" shaped concrete RCC shell and then a beamed concrete roof (or vaulted concrete roof) is placed on top of it. This is what you are talking about and will be a lot cheaper to build. Kolkata Metro was built like this back in the day, my understanding.

The roofs (and the plates) used in these tunnels have to bear super heavy loads, so they are usually cast with heavy duty tor steel re-bars and special micro-fine cement. Only a few countries make micro fine cement in the world, Australia is one of them.

The cement for the 120 meter piles in the Padma Bridge also used Micro-fine cement to reinforce them, a world first. In fact Padma Bridge pioneered a lot of new bridge- building techniques for the first time.

Absolutely.

That is my understanding as well.

Paris metro is mix of the two.