Metro rail project to be completed by 2020: Quader

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today said the construction work of the country’s first ever metro rail project will be completed by 2020, four years before the scheduled time.

“Metro rail construction work up to Agargaon will be completed within 2019 and the entire work from Uttara third phase to Motijheel will be completed by 2020,” Quader also general secretary of the ruling Awami League said.

The construction work was scheduled to be completed by 2024, but Japan is providing its quality services in the completion of the project before the deadline, Quader told reporters after signing a contract in this regard at a city hotel.

However, the overall progress of the project is around 15 percent till April 16, 2018, according to facts of authority.

The government today signed contracts with two joint-venture companies for constructing a portion of metro-rail, formally known as MRT Line-6, giving a further boost to the project.

Works of MRT Line-6 are divided into eight packages. Package 5 and 6 is for the construction of viaducts and elevated stations from Agargaon to Motijheel.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), a government company formed to set up the metro rail lines, signed two separate contracts for the package-5 and package-6.

DMTCL signed Tk 1,855-crore contract for Package-5 with a joint venture of Takken Corporation, Abdul Monem Ltd and Abenikko. It signed Tk 2,332-crore deal with another joint venture of Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co Ltd and Italian-Thai Development Public Company Ltd for Package-6.

Among the companies, Abdul Monem Ltd is a Bangladeshi firm.

DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique singed for his company while Tsuyooshi Nishimura and Ikuo Kitada singed for their respective joint venture. Under the project, they will construct 8.1-kilometer viaducts and 7 stations from Agargaon to Motijheel.

After the programme, Quader said metro rail work fall behind six months following Holey Artisan tragedy but it could not dampen the project and spirit of Japanese companies and JICA.

“It’s good news that could have covered the six-month delay,” he said.

The Tk 22,000 crore ($2.5 billion) ambitious project is aimed at easing traffic congestion in the capital through an improved, faster, comfortable and time-bound public transportation services.

Once the project is implemented, a train with six air-conditioned spacious coaches will operate every four minute, enabling a commuter to travel from Uttara to Motijheel within just 38 minutes which now takes around two hours normally.

A total of 24 such trains will carry 60,000 passengers every hour both directions and drastically cut the number of presence of private cars on the streets.

The metro rail will have stations at 16 points of the city -- including at Uttara, Pallabi, Mirpur, Kazipara, Shewrapara, Agargaon, Rokeya Sarani, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Sonargaon Hotel, Shahbagh, Doel Chattar, Topkhana Road and Motijheel.