Funding for Gabtoli-Dasherkandi metro line confirmed

The prospect of having another major metro rail route in Dhaka looks bright as financing for the construction of the southern route of Mass Rapid Transit Line-5 has been confirmed.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $3 billion and South Korea $1.5 billion for the job. The Bangladesh government will give the rest of the funds needed for the project which will cost an estimated $5.1 billion in total, said officials of finance and planning ministries.

The project aims at easing traffic congestion with metro service between Gabtoli in Dhaka's western part and Dasherkandi in Dhaka's eastern part, a distance of 17.20km. The deadline is 2030.

Over 13km of the lines will be underground and 4.10km elevated.

With the confirmation of the funding, the Road Transport and Bridges Division submitted the detailed project proposal to the planning ministry last month.

An official requesting anonymity said the ministry's project evaluation committee will examine the proposal first and then it will be placed at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council for approval.

Finance ministry officials said a high-level team of the ADB confirmed the financing while visiting Bangladesh in November last year. The project has been included in ADB's pipeline for this year.

The ADB fund will be a mix of concessional and non-concessional loans, and the repayment period will be 30 years, including a five-year grace period.

The multilateral lender completed the feasibility study, engineering design, and procurement documentation in November 2022.

Meanwhile, South Korea signed a "Framework Arrangement" in May last year to provide a soft loan of $3 billion during the 2023-2027 period. Of the funds, $1.5 billion will be for the southern route of Mass Rapid Transit Line-5.

The interest rate will be 0.01 to 0.05 percent with a 40-year repayment period and a 15-year grace period, said the finance ministry officials.

The country's first metro rail line, formerly known as MRT Line-6, came into full operation, except the Motijheel-Kamalapur part, on January 22, significantly reducing travel time in a major part of the city.

Now, the metro trains operate between Uttara and Motijheel from 7:00am to 8:40pm six days a week.

Construction work of two more metro rail lines -- MRT Line-5 (northern route) and MRT Line-1 -- is going on.

The northern route of MRT Line-5 will be a 20km route from Hemayetpur to Bhatara via Gabtoli, Mirpur-10 and Gulshan. The deadline for the Tk 41,239 crore project is 2028.

The MRT Line-1 is the biggest infrastructure project in the transport sector, involving Tk 52,561.43 crore. It will be a 31.24km route with 19 stations. It will have a 19.87km underground section from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Kamalapur and a 11.36km elevated section from Notun Bazar to Purbachal.

PROJECT DETAILS

The southern route of MRT line-5 will start from Gabtoli and end at Dasherkandi via Kalyanpur, Shyamoli, Asad Gate, Russell Square, Karwan Bazar, Hatirjheel, Tejgaon and Aftabnagar. There will be 11 underground and four elevated stations.

The tunnel section will be between Gabtoli and Aftabnagar while the elevated portion is from Aftabnagar to Dasherkandi, according to the project documents.

Nineteen trains with six air-conditioned coaches will be operated initially.

As per the documents, each metro train will have a maximum carrying capacity of 1,908 passengers with a maximum 323 passengers in each of the four middle coaches and a maximum of 308 in each of the trailer coaches.

The travel time between Gabtoli and Dasherkandi is estimated to be 28 minutes. A train will run every four minutes and 30 seconds in 2030.

The resettlement cost has been estimated at Tk 4,716 crore.

According to the project documents, the population of Dhaka is estimated to be over 20 million at present and will be close to 30 million in 2035. This project will contribute to reducing traffic congestion and improving the environment of Dhaka city and its adjoining areas.

As per the time-bound action plan, the government will build a 140km network of metro rails consisting six lines in Dhaka and adjacent areas by 2030.

Once the planned network consisting of six lines comes into reality, 50 lakh people will be able to use the facilities.