Metro rail to lease or rent free spaces at stations

The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) will rent or lease out commercial space of metro rail to generate additional income.

They have drafted a policy recently and are taking opinions from the DMTCL officials internally for further fine tuning.

“This is now at a very initial stage. After discussion, a draft copy will be placed before the DMTCL board of directors for finalisation. It will be then sent to the ministry for approval,” Md Aftabuzzaman, director (finance & accounts) of DMTCL and also the convener of policy drafting committee, told The Business Post.

The last date for giving opinion on the draft was September 7. Now, the draft is being reviewed by the senior management of the DMTCL, the implementing agency of metro rail, he added.

According to the draft policy, the authorities will rent out spaces at metro station’s concourse, retail area, platform, skywalk, staircase, elevators, lift as well as parapet wall or any other place inside metro rail’s territory. There will also be option for renting designated space of a coach of a train, or the whole train, for commercial advertisement.

Lessees will be allowed to set up retail shops, stalls, departmental store, mini shop, fast food shop, coffee shop, food court, money exchange booth, ATM booth, vending machine, Koisk, relaxation booth, car booking booth etc. at the rented space of the station.

Besides, spaces will be rented for advertising, shooting of drama or cinema, and organising short time campaigning or exhibition. The car parking space will also be leased out.

The conference and seminar room of metro rail stations will be rented out on daily or hourly basis. Even the piers of the rail line will be rented out for advertising.

The draft policy said that a committee, approved by the authorities, will make necessary recommendations on leasing or renting out the spaces after floating tenders and scrutiny. There will be also short-term leasing system.

“The DMTCL will decide who will be the members of the committee,” said Md Aftabuzzaman.

The rent rate will be determined evaluating commercial value of the place the certain station is situated. This committee will have the authority to scrap any lease or renting agreement.

The tenure of leasing and renting out the space will be five years, subjected to renewal on condition. Every year, the rate for rent or lease will be increased by minimum 5% per cent.

But, as the metro rail and its installations are categorised as Key Point Installation (KPI), the authorities will have the power to scrap any agreement for a particular period of time considering security or other reasons.

Both the authorities and the lessee can scrap the agreement with a three-month notice. Metro rail authorities can scrap any agreement for rail operation, maintenance, security, development with a 30-day prior notice.

The staffs working at the establishments appointed by the lessees will get ID cards after police verification, according to the policy.

The 20.15-km MRT-6 is being built from Uttara to Motijheel at a cost of Tk 22,000 crore. The work on the Agargaon-Motijheel segment is expected to be completed by 2023.

The current overall progress of the Uttara-Agargaon segment, scheduled to be opened for passengers in December, is 93.86 per cent.

The MRT-6 line has recently been decided to be extended to Kamalapur. The metro rail is expected to carry 60,000 people from Uttara to Motijheel in less than an hour.