Metro Rail project makes 1% progress in Sept

The much-awaited MRT Line-6, better known as Metro Rail, made nearly 1 per cent progress in September, raising the overall progress of the fast-track project to 69.43 per cent.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd’s (DMTCL) monthly progress report showed the line’s progress was 68.49 per cent in August.

The company has been implementing MRT Line-6 since 2012, which is scheduled to be completed by 2024 in phases.

The project aims to reduce public suffering caused by severe traffic jams, a usual picture of Dhaka.

The DMTCL has divided the development of the 20.1km elevated Metro Rail into two phases – the first from Uttara to Agargaon and the second from Agargaon to Motijheel.

The government planned to inaugurate the first phase by December this year to mark the Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence but later delayed it till December 2022.

According to the DMTCL report, the first phase saw 0.4 per cent progress in September, taking overall progress to 88.58 per cent.

Transport experts said the project had already been delayed much for different reasons, including the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 1 per cent progress was very insignificant at a time when the authorities opened all businesses and offices after lifting the coronavirus restrictions, they said.

Additional Director of the Metro Rail project Abdul Baquee Miah told The Business Post trains would be opened to the public on schedule no matter what the progress was. He said progress was less because almost all major work had been done already.

Officials said they were now doing electrical and station-related work.

Uttara resident Md Aftab Uddin Khan, who is a lawyer, said he had been waiting eagerly for metro rail to travel to his office in Paltan.

He said the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon would not give him any advantage, like many others in the area, because public transports from Agargaon to Paltan would not be available.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is funding the Tk 22,000 crore project in association with the Bangladesh government.

Once completed, trains will travel on the 20.10km route in 38 minutes, carrying 60,000 passengers at a time.

Manager of the project ABM Arifur Rahman said two more sets of trains had arrived at the port and would soon be brought to the depot.

The first consignment of four coaches arrived in Dhaka from Japan on April 21 this year.

Metro Rail conducted its first performance test on the viaduct on August 29, setting a new milestone in the country’s history of rail transports.

Officials said the authorities were regularly conducting test runs to check all the technical issues. All metro trains will run at 100km per hour every three and a half minutes during peak hours.