Metro Rail: Rally, fireworks to adorn grand opening

The authorities are completing the last-minute preparations before the grand opening of the country's first metro rail tomorrow.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the metro rail at the playground of sector-15 (C-1 Block) in the capital's Uttara at 11:00am by unveiling a plaque, according to sources in the road transport and highways division.

There will be fireworks.

The PM will then take part in a munajat and a civic rally at the ground.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Division ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique, Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka Iwama Kiminori and Jica chief in Dhaka Ichiguchi Tomohide are expected to deliver speeches.

She will unveil a commemorative stamp and a banknote there.

Afterwards, she will go to Uttara North Station and buy an MRT Pass, they said. She will then wave the green flag to a train at the station and then get on the next train as the first passenger and take a ride to Agargaon. She is expected to be accompanied by around 200 guests during her journey.

"Our preparations are almost complete," Nuri told The Daily Star yesterday.

Quader would brief the media today at the Agargaon Station ahead of the inauguration ceremony of the Mass Rapid Transit Line-6.

Meanwhile, ruling Awami League is preparing to assemble a huge crowd to mark the launching of metro rail and to showcase one of the biggest achievements of the government.

Sheikh Bazlur Rahman, president of Dhaka City (North) Unit of AL, told this newspaper that more than one lakh people would gather at Diabari to mark the historic moment.

During a visit to Agargaon station area yesterday, a correspondent of this newspaper saw workers busy cleaning the station areas. Police personnel have taken position at the entrance of the station.

Some workers were seen wielding at the staircase and planting plants on the maiden stirp of Rokeya Sarani.

Ruling Awami League is preparing to assemble a huge crowd to mark the launching of metro rail and to showcase one of the biggest achievements of the government

Meanwhile, staffers of the road transport and highways division were seen busy preparing and sending out invites for the ceremony.

The 12km section, from Uttara to Agargaon, of MRT-6 would be opened tomorrow while the eight-km section, from Agargaon to Motijheel, would be opened in December next year and the Motijheel to Kamalapur section in June 2025.

The metro rail will be opened to commuters at 8:00am on Thursday, when they will be able to avail the new mode of public transport in the capital.

The trains will initially run for fours a day from 8:00am and the duration will be increased as passengers get used to the new mode of public transport. In the beginning, the trains will run between Uttara and Agargaon without any stoppages.

The authorities will start selling single- and multiple-use cards on Thursday, a day after the inauguration.

Replying to a question, the road secretary said they have no manpower shortage to deliver services for this section.

Earlier, MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd, which will operate the service, said it would take three months for the service to be fully-fledged.