The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 project will likely start by this year with the land acquisition work “nearly finished,” an official familiar with the process said friday.
“About 54.34 acres of land are needed to implement the metro rail project at Uttara (third phase); 14.07 acres of land were received from Rajuk and acquisition of the rest 40.27 acres is under way,” said Farid Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, an additional secretary of the roads division at the ministry of communications.
The appointment of consultants for the overland metro rail service project which is aimed to ease the capital’s chronic traffic congestion and facilitate comfortable commuting is also reportedly underway.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would lay the foundation stone of the project within this year, Farid said, adding “Once implemented, the MRT will be able to ferry around 60,000 to 70,000 commuters an hour.”
“After appointment of the consultants, project officials would begin the construction work.”
According to sources, the project would require over Tk219bn, and of that, about Tk166bn would be provided by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica). The rest of the cost about Tk54bn would be borne by the Bangladesh government.
Jica had pledged to provide the fund at a 0.01% interest rate and the repayment period would be 40 years with an additional 10 years of grace period, Farid said.
“Metro rail is a popular mode of public transport in the world. The government is committed to implementing the project which would enable comfortable commuting for the city dwellers.”
According to a ministry source, the 20.1km-long metro rail route will start at Uttara and end in front of the Bangladesh Bank building in the capital’s Motijheel area.
Project officials have already acquired a no-objection certificate from the department of environment and there would be uninterrupted power supply during the construction work.
