Mersey Gateway shares civil engineering expertise with experts building Bangladesh’s biggest bridge
Merseylink has been sharing its civil engineering expertise on an international scale with the Army engineers working to provide the access roads to Bangladesh’s biggest bridge project.
Senior engineers from the Bangladesh Army pictured on site at the Mersey Gateway Project with members of the Merseylink staff team
Four senior engineers from the Bangladesh Army recently visited Halton to learn about the construction process for the Mersey Gateway Project – one of the biggest infrastructure projects currently underway in the UK.
The Bangladesh Army is supervising construction of the Padma Bridge Approach Roads project. The Padma Bridge is a multipurpose road and rail bridge that is being built across the Padma River in Bangladesh. Once complete, it will be the largest bridge in the country and will open up new trade routes through the South West of the country towards India.
The special delegation included Major General Abu Syeed Md Masud, Brigadier General Abdul Mukim Sarker, Colonel Md Monirul Haque, Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Mahabubul Haque, plus representatives from IMC Worldwide who organised the training programme for the delegation and are working with the Army on the Padma Bridge Approach Roads project.
The group was taken on a tour of the movable scaffolding system, which will be used to build the elevated road viaducts on each side of the Mersey Estuary, and visited the project’s 1000m long trestle bridge where work is underway for the three bridge pylons.
The engineers also heard from the project team about how Merseylink is handling environmental issues, traffic management planning, stakeholder engagement and public relations.
IMC Worldwide is an international development consultancy delivering socioeconomic, management and infrastructure services in developing countries. They are sub-consultants for the Padma Bridge approach roads, and requested the visit as part of a UK training programme for the Army engineers.
Mike Hughes, principal engineer at IMC Worldwide, said:
“As a part of our training course, we wanted to demonstrate the modern holistic approaches to civil engineering projects undertaken in the UK, and the attention to detail required in site safety and site access control. The ongoing discussions with the local community and recognition of the environmental requirements were very useful pointers as to how to successfully construct a major project.”
Major General Abu Syeed Md Masud said:
“We are all very pleased to have visited the site. We saw many things, which will be useful in our implementation of our bridges and roads in Bangladesh. We would like to thank the staff of Merseylink for their informative talks and interesting discussions.”
Richard Walker, Merseylink’s project director, commented:
“Our specialist teams are using the latest technology and engineering techniques to deliver this unique bridge and road project for Halton. There is a huge amount of interest on a global level, particularly from the civil engineering discipline, which demonstrates the significance of this scheme.”
Hugh O’Connor, general manager of Merseylink, said:
“The Mersey Gateway Project is a major infrastructure scheme, combining UK highways construction knowledge and international bridge building expertise of the highest level. We’re delighted to be able to share our knowledge, experience and learning with fellow engineering professionals from around the world.”
The Merseylink Consortium brings together UK expertise with world leaders in major bridge building projects, to combine technology and best practice specifically for the Mersey Gateway Project.
