Sagar Biswas :Dhaka is going to get five routes for the proposed highly ambitious billion taka metro rail project. At the same time, the capital city would have two bus rapid transit [BRT], three ring roads and six express ways in a bid to reduce traffic congestion in the future, officials said on Wednesday.”The work of revised strategic transport plan [RSTP] has been almost completed with the support of Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA]. As per the RSTP, there will be five routes for metro rail and three ring roads surrounding the capital. Besides, the RSTP also proposed for six express ways,” Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said yesterday. The Japanese experts, helping the government to bring changes in the strategic transport plan [STP], have recommended two additional metro rail routes for greater Dhaka, keeping the expansion of the city in mind.Elaborating the progress of the work, the Minister said: “The physical work of metro rail will be visible from February next. Of the eight packages of metro rail from Uttara to Motijheel, tenders have been called for six projects.”Officials said, of the five metro rail routes, the first one has been considered the backbone corridor of Dhaka city and the second one as regional corridor connecting Savar with central business district. The metro rail route-5, however, will have east-west connection, the said.Pointing that most of the roads in capital city stretched from north to south, Obaidul Quader said, the government has taken initiatives to create road connectivity between the east and west in Dhaka city. “We have taken initiatives to implement route-5 of metro rail project for this purpose. The route will start from Gabtoli and end in Vatara touching several stations, including Mirpur-1. Mirpur-14, Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Madani Avenue and Nutan Bazar,” he said. Especially, the part of the metro rail route from Kemal Ataturk Avenue to Vatara would be underground, the Minister said. Detailing the project, he said: “The metro rail route-1 will start from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and end at Kamalapur Railway Station touching Kuril Pragati Sarani and Rampura.” According to RSTP: Gazipur, Savar, Narayanganj and eastern fringe will bring 35 million people under better transportation system.It is learnt that Japanese firms Katahira and Engineers International, Oriental Consultants Global Company Ltd and ALMEC Corporation are now engaged in RSTP to accommodate all the changes for a better transport network.Besides, the JICA is providing technical support to RSTP, recommending modern transportation system based on five components.
