Dhaka’s underground utility service is chaotic. This will pose a major challenge during the tunnel’s construction. It will also increase the construction costsSyed Ahmed, the DTCA executive director, said: “We have already held several meetings with the Army and hope to finalize the design of the MRT line-5 soon. But the army says it will not allow any metro rail station inside the cantonment.” But he said they were yet to receive an official confirmation from the army, who are scrutinizing the details. Experts say the metro rail project will face troubles during construction of the underground tunnel at the cantonment, Banani and Gulshan as these are very busy areas. DTCA’s Syed said there was nothing to worry about. “Latest technologies can help us construct the tunnel without disruption the existing infrastructures in the alignment area,” he told the Dhaka Tribune. “We are prepared to do the underground work without making changes above the land in the cantonment,” he said. “If needed, we will construct the tunnel 50 metres under the ground.” Urban and regional planning department’s Prof Sarwar Jahan told the Dhaka Tribune that it would be possible if the Tunnel Boring Machine is used. “Only then, it will be possible to build the underground metro rail tunnel in the cantonment without disrupting the existing infrastructure,” he added but noted that the TBM was very expensive and could push up the project cost. However, the government is yet to decide on a method for constructing the underground metro rail. The total length of the third metro rail is 19.6 kilometres and the estimated cost is Tk35,000 crore. The proposed stations are Hemayetpur, Baliapur, Moodhumoti, Amin Bazar, Gabtoli, Dar-Us-Salam, Mirpur-1, Mirpur-10, Mirpur-14, Kochukhet, Banani, Gulshan-2, Natuna Bazar and Vatara. The Japan International Cooperative Agency (JICA) is doing feasibility study under the supervision of DTCA, which will be completed within this year, as per the deal. However, the DTCA’s Syed told the Dhaka Tribune that JICA was working on the feasibility study and detail design of the third metro rail, MRT line-5, and hoped that it would be completed very soon. “Then we will sign a deal with JICA and Asian Development Bank for funding,” he added. JICA has already drafted the alignment of second metro rail and third metro rail under the “preparatory study on Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (MRT line-1 and line-5).” According to the plan, the second metro rail will be built by 2025 to ease traffic.
The government is planning to construct the third metro rail (MRT line-5) connecting Hemayetpur and Vatara through the Dhaka Cantonment.
The metro rail will have two elevated parts – the first one to be constructed between Hemayetpur and Aminbazar (5.5km) while the second part will connect Natun Bazar and Vatara (0.5km).
Besides, the 13.6km long underground part will be constructed between Gabtoli and Gulshan-2 via Dar-Us-Salam, Mirpur-1, Mirpur-10, Mirpur-14, Kochukhet, cantonment and Banani.
This means parts of the proposed metro rail will have a 1.6km underground tunnel through the cantonment.
Senior officials of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) and Bangladesh Army have held several meetings. DTCA officials say the Army has not opposed the proposal.
The DTCA says it is confident that the Army will allow the underground tunnel to pass through the cantonment. It is a stark contrast to the Air Force’s opposition to the MRT line-6 that was initially designed to pass by the old Tejgaon Airport arguing that it would create operational problems.
It had forced the DTCA to redesign the route to pass by the Parliament. However, environment activists protested against the new proposed route saying it would ruin the Parliament’s original design.
