The Bridges Division and the Road Transport and Highways Division are at loggerheads over the plan to build an underground railway system in Dhaka.
The Bangladesh Bridge Authority, a wing of Bridges Division, brought forth a proposal to build a four-route city-wide subway system, at a seminar at the Shetu Bhaban on April 3.
However, the RTHD, coordinators for the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP), the long term umbrella transport plan for Dhaka, says the subways are not included in the plan and the division has received no directives to do so.
RTHD Secretary MAN Siddique told the Dhaka Tribune that the RSTP, which spans the next 20 years, has already been finalised following a large number of surveys and feasibility studies.
The RSTP includes the plans for the elevated metro rail system Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
“We will send the RSTP to the cabinet in June for approval,” he said.
The secretary said changes to Dhaka’s transport infrastructure cannot happen outside the purview of the RSTP.
“No one will have the authority to violate the RSTP. The government will authorise the construction of the proposed metro rail, some parts of which is underground. Outside of the RSTP, no one can make something new,” he said.
Bridges Division Secretary Khandakar Anwarul Islam, on the other hand, said: “We are working towards a good plan to build subways across the city under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s directives.”
Bridge Authority sources said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sat down with both the divisions and the Railways Division on March 13 and instructed the Bridges Division to plan for a subway system.
RTHD Secretary MAN Siddique, however, claimed that no such directive was handed out in that meeting.
The government first announced a plan to build an underground railway in Dhaka in October last year. Planning Minister Mustafa Kamal told reporters then that the prime minister had asked the Planning Commission to ready a project and that the World Bank was interested in financing it.
Infrastructure expert Mehedi Ahmed Ansary said: “Dhaka City is so congested that it hinders infrastructure development. But that does not mean that we cannot develop the city. I would say that we definitely need to build subways.
“Besides, we have the RSTP for a long-term plan while the government has already surveyed to build elevated metro rail. In this situation if we want to build subways, we will need more surveys. Then we should make plans for the subways, otherwise it will not be effective.”
According to the Bridge Authority’s proposal, a 32km long subway will connect Sayedabad with Tongi, via Airport, Kakoli, Mohakhali, Moghbazar, Paltan and Motijheel, at a cost of $5.26 billion. It will be expanded to Narayanganj in the future.
The approximate travel time will be 52 minutes, with an interval frequency of four minutes. The subway will have 18 stations and 28 trains will run in both directions.
The subway will run for 12 hours carrying 60,000 passengers moving both ways per hour, meaning a total of 720,000 passengers each day.
The subway will be able to carry 216 million passengers in 300 days with an approximate average fare collection of $1.
The second subway route will connect Aminbazar with Sayedabad, a distance of 16 kilometres, passing through Gabtoli to Kallyanpur, Shyamoli, Asad Gate, Russel Square, Science Lab, New Market, TSC, Nagar Bhaban and Motijheel Ittefaq crossing. It will cost $2.87 billion to build.
The approximate travel time will be 32 minutes and 20 trains will run in both directions.
The return for the subway 2 is almost the same as subway 1. The Bridge Authority has initially planned to build the first two subways.
The third and fourth routes are in primary stage of planning and they will connect Gabtoli, Rampura and Sadarghat. The proposed third subway will also be expanded to Keraniganj Jhilmil.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
