The construction work of the much-talked-about metro rail project in the capital will begin in next month, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said.
The minister was speaking at a meeting in Dhaka on Saturday morning.
Quader also said the movement by the Dhaka University students protesting the proposed route of metro rail through the university campus is illegal as the government had earlier taken permission from the authorities.
Hundreds of students of Dhaka University (DU) as well as teachers formed a human chain in front of Raju Bhaskarja on Thursday protesting the planned route through the campus.
Read Next: DU students protest metro rail route through campus
The first tender for the pre-qualification of rolling stock (coach and locomotive) and equipment of Uttara depot for the 20-km-long much-expected metro railway project was floated on Jan 31, 2015.
Under the tender, 24 locomotives and 144 coaches will be procured from manufacturers and suppliers at the cost of Tk2,700 crore. The 24 trains each having six coaches will run from Uttara to Motijheel, according to sources in the communication ministry.
The first phase of construction of the metro railway would be finished by the December 2019, while the whole project would be completed by 2024.
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, Doel Chattar and Topkhana Road. The routes would be extended up to Sayedabad from Bangladesh Bank through Atish Dipankar Road.
According to a Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) study, the trains will operate every three minutes and carry 60,000 passengers an hour.
The Jica has committed to provide Tk16,594.59 crore for the project, while Bangladesh government will allocate Tk5,390.48 crore.
