Bangladesh
Metro Rail Construction of country's first underground metro line to begin in July
Dhaka, May 24: A bilateral agreement has been signed with the contractor to start the contract package-1 (land development of depot area) of Uttara route of the country's first subway MRT line-5. The total cost of land development has been estimated at Tk 1,149 crore. The land development work will begin two months after the completion of various works and formalities related to this international agreement, i.e. in July. A total of 99.25 acres of land will be developed under this agreement.
The agreement was signed between Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, TOA Corporation (Japan) and Spectra Engineers Limited (Bangladesh) at DMTCL Bhawan in Uttara, capital on Tuesday. Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) said that DMTCL wants to provide passenger transport services on the 20 km route from Hemayetpur to Bhatara by 2028. A part of the route will pass under Gabtali, Mirpur-10, Kachukshet, Banani, Newbazar road. Besides, the Bhatara section from Hemayetpur to Aminbazar and Nabunbazar will be built over the road. The length of the line will be 20 km including underground and aerial routes. Out of this, 13.50 kilometers will be underground and 6.50 kilometers will be aerial routes.
It was informed at the signing ceremony that the metro rail will operate on this route from Hemayetpur to Bhatara, consisting of both underground and overhead trains. The distance of 20 kilometers will be covered in 32 minutes. Can transport 12 lakh 30 thousand passengers daily.
MRT-5 will have a total of 14 stations, including nine in the underground section and five in the elevated section. Among them, there will be underground stations at Gabtali, Darus Salam, Mirpur-1, Mirpur-10, Mirpur-14, Kachukshet, Banani, Gulshan-2 and Newbazar respectively. The government plans to complete the project by 2028. Its construction cost has been estimated at Tk 41,238 crore. JICA is providing loan assistance for this project.
Secretary of Road Transport and Highways Department ABM Amin Ullah Noori was the chief guest at the signing ceremony. Iwama Kiminori, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh and Ichiguchi Tamohide, Chief Representative of JICA were the special guests.
