Dhaka subway technically viable: Study

A 238km proposed Dhaka subway plan is technically feasible though its financial practicability is yet to be calculated, according to a draft feasibility study.

Urban planners and transport experts have, however, dubbed the plan highly ambitious and expensive.

A Spanish consulting firm named Tecnica Y Proyectos SA recently submitted the draft feasibility study report to the Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA). The final report is scheduled to be submitted in February 2022.

BBA officials said they had started preparing a detailed construction design of one of the 11 routes after receiving the feasibility report and once the government had finally approved the project.

Tecnica Y Proyectos SA has been conducting the feasibility study for the BBA since 2018.

The BBA earlier underook a project titled “Feasibility Study for Construction of Subway (Underground Metro) in Dhaka City” in 2017 with an estimated cost of Tk 315 crore to assess the possibility of such a communication network in Dhaka.

Talking to The Business Post, BBA Chief Engineer and Director of the project Kazi Md Ferdous said, “After receiving the draft survey report, the BBA initiated a further move to build four routes out of 11 in the first phase.”

According to the plan, a network of 11 subways will cover about 238km of the city. The initial plan, though, was to cover only four routes in 10 years. The entire project will be implemented in three phases within 50 years.

As Bangladesh is going to be a developed country, there should be no doubt as to whether its capital needs a subway for the increasingly growing commuters of the megacity, Ferdous said.

He also said the government would make the final decision on the financing of the project, which could be implemented under the public private partnership method or with loans from lenders or under the government to government financing scheme.

According to officials concerned, the cost of one of the 11 routes is primarily estimated at nearly $7 billion.

“Initially, the BBA planned to complete the 24.71km O route, which stretches from Tongi to Uttara to Dhanmondi to Jhilmil in Keraniganj,” Ferdous said.

Though expensive, the subway is essential for Dhaka to ease traffic jam, BBA officials said.

They also said they were working hard to reduce the cost of the project by discussing further with the consulting firm.

Jahangirnagar University Urban Planning Professor Adil Mohammad Khan said, “Our social, financial, and geographical realities do not support the subway project idea, and it will not be viable in Dhaka as its construction, maintenance, and operation costs would be three to four times higher than that of the regular modes of transportations.”

In the name of expanding regional connectivity, the BBA floated the subway idea, which was not even approved  in any transport plan prepared for the capital, he noted.

“Subway was not included even in the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP),” he further said.

But BBA officials said they had asked the authorities concerned to include the subway option in the RSTP approved in 2015, considering the reality of the mode of communication.

Metro rail, expressway, and bus route rationalisation were among others proposed modes to solve the prevailing transportation problems of the city.

Four routes – O, S, B, and T – of a combined length of 122km will be constructed in the first phase while 85km and 71km lines will be built in the second and third phases.

BBA officials said the routes would be shortened further. B is a 30.51km route from Gabtoli to Belabo, S is 19.50km from Keraniganj to Sonapur, and T is 47.54km from Jahangirnagar University to Uttara sector 13 to Narayanganj.

As per the plan, the subway tunnel would be 30 metres below the surface. The tunnel boring machine and the stations would be developed under the cut and cover method.

BBA Superintendent Engineer Md Ohiduzzaman said, “Though the subway is expensive to build and maintain, there will be no public suffering during the construction.” To reduce the viability gap in the project, the BBA is planning to build three multi-modal transport hubs in Sayedabad, Sadarghat, and Tongi, he added.