The government will float two tenders this year to speed up the implementation of the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development project, better known as the metro rail, an official said.
“The tender for procuring rolling stock [coach and locomotive] and equipment of a depot will be floated in October and the tender for engineering and management system in November,” said Mofazzel Hossain, director of the metro rail project.
He said this while addressing a press conference at the seminar room of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) in Dhaka yesterday.
The project comprises eight contract packages with Tk5,400 crore allocated for the rolling stock and equipment and E&M systems.
The first tender for pre-qualification of rolling stock and equipment of the Uttara depot was floated in January. The tender for the pre-qualification of E&M system was floated in March.
More than 10 companies submitted organisational profiles for those two tenders.
Mofazzel said: “Building the metro rail is a fast track project of the Bangladesh government. We are working very sincerely. We hope to float some important tenders by the beginning of 2016.
“We will face two big challenges in implementing the project – one is transferring the utility services from the project’s lineament area and the other is traffic management.”
Project expert Nurul Islam said: “Basic topographical, traffic and geo-technical surveys at the field level have already been completed.” A few other necessary surveys will be completed in a short time.
On January 26, an amended Metro Rail Bill 2015 was passed in parliament. The aim of the project is to curb traffic jam by ensuring quick and improved transport services in the capital.
The first phase of construction of the metro railway will be finished by December 2019, and the entire project will take another year to finish although the duration of the project on papers is 2024.
The metro rail project, the second largest infrastructure project in the country after the Padma bridge, has faced problems in the last few years over modification of routes following objections from the Air Force and avoiding overlapping with the Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover.
The trains will run from Uttara to Motijheel via Pallabi, the west side of Rokeya Sarani and Farmgate, Hotel Sonargaon, Hotel Ruposhi Bangla, TSC of Dhaka University, Doyel Chattar and Topkhana Road. The routes would 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 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 in different parts of the project.
