The government is all set to to float pre-qualification tenders for elevated stations and viaducts of the Dhaka metro rail project this week.
The decision to float tender will be finalised at a board meeting of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL) at it’s office in the city today.
Under contract package 3, viaducts of 5.97km length and four stations will be built at Uttara north, Uttara central, Uttara south and Pallabi. Under package 4, one 5.74km viaduct will be built from Mirpur 11 to Agargaon and five stations will be constructed at Mirpur 11, Mirpur 10, Kazipara, Shewrapara and Agargaon.
The total length of the viaduct of the metro rail project is 19.83km and the total number of elevated stations is 15.
DMTCL sources said that the tender would be floated within a week after the board finalises the decision.
The metro rail project comprises eight contract packages. The first tender for pre-qualification of rolling stock and equipment of the Uttara depot under contract package 8 was floated in January. The pre-qualification tender for Engineering and Management system was offloaded in March.
Although six months have passed and eight companies have participated in the package 8 pre-qualification tender, the authorities are yet to finalise any of the competitors.
Mofazzel Hossain, director of the metro rail project, said: “The selection board is working to select the qualified organisations. But they will need two more weeks to complete the work.”
According to MRTCL sources, China’s Norinko group and Beijing Subway, Italian Ansaldo STS, France’s Alstom, India’s Bomberdier, consortiums of Hitachi-Mitsuei, Kawasaki-Mitsubishi and Nippon-Saiki-SC Javi have applied for the first pre-qualification.
The metro rail project, the second largest infrastructure project in the country after the Padma bridge, will run from Uttara to Motijheel via Pallabi and touch Rokeya Sarani, Farmgate, Hotel Sonargaon, Hotel Intercontinental, TSC of Dhaka University, Doyel Chattar and Topkhana Road. The routes will be extended up to Sayedabad from Bangladesh Bank through the Atish Dipankar Road.
According to a study conducted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), the trains will operate every three minutes and carry 60,000 passengers an hour. Jica has committed to provide Tk16,594.59 crore for the project while the Bangladesh government will allocate Tk5,390.48 crore.
A Japanese consortium is now working on the detailed design of the project. It is also carrying out topographical, traffic and geo-technical surveys.