Staff Reporter :
The dream of city dwellers to travel by Metrorail will be fulfilled soon as the government has decided to open the much awaited Metrorail-6 (MRT-6) for traffic from Uttara to Agargaon part on December 16 this year.
The decision was disclosed after of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting held at the NEC conference room in the capital’s Shere Bangla Nagar joining virtually from her official residence Ganobhaban.
Meanwhile, the metro rail launching time was discussed in the meeting of the ECNEC to get rid of Dhaka’s traffic jams.
After the ECNEC meeting, State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam highlighted the instructions of the Prime Minister and said that metro rail will run from Uttara to Agargaon in December.
The Premier asked the relevant authority regarding parking space at each landing station and she also enquired for an underpass from the airport to the airport railway station.
Prime Minister has ordered to start the parking system at the important stations of the Metrorail. Along with this, she also ordered for construction of interlink train services from Kamalapur station to the airport and underpass if necessary.
At the same time, the Prime Minister also ordered to maintain the quality of the roads built under the local government department.
Work on the 11.73 km metro rail from Uattara’s Diabari to Agargaon is almost completed. The metro rail service will be inaugurated in this part in December this year.
Work is underway on the rest of the project. However, the work of the project has increased as the metro rail route has been extended from Motijheel to Kamalapur.
The total length of metro rail is now 21.26 km with an extension of 1.16km from Motijheel to Kamalapur.
Due to the increase in work, the cost has also increased. In the second amendment proposal of DPP, the estimated expenditure stands at Tk 33,471 crore.
Planning Minister MA Mannan along with the concerned secretary and high officials were present during the media briefing.UNB adds : The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on Tuesday approved the 2nd revision of Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development (Line-6) project with an additional cost of Tk 11,486.92 crore.
With the latest revision, the length of the metro rail (Line-6) will increase by 1.16 km while the total cost will reach Tk 33,471.99 crore.
The approval came from the 1st Ecnec meeting in the current fiscal year with Ecnec chairperson and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
She joined the meeting virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban while Ministers, State Ministers, Planning Commission members and Secretaries concerned attended the meeting from the NEC conference room in the city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
Planning Minister MA Mannan briefed reporters after the meeting.
He said that a total of 8 projects were approved today involving an overall estimated cost of Tk 15,856.80 crore.
Of the approved eight projects, four are new while four others are revised ones.
Of the total project cost, Tk 12,444.25 crore will come from the government of Bangladesh, Tk 134.57 crore from the concerned organization’s own fund while the rest of Tk 3,277.98 crore as project assistance.
As per the 2nd revision of the metro rail project, there will be civil works, rolling stocks modification, E & M system and station plaza construction from Motijheel to Kamalapur Line.
State Minister for Planning Dr Shamsul Alam said that the Ecnec meeting discussed the launching of the much- hyped metro rail (Line-6) likely on December 16 this year with an aim to ease the traffic congestion in the capital.
Initially, he said, the metro rail will operate from Uttara to Agargaon as the work on the 11.73 km Diabari-Agargaon portion is nearing completion.
The other projects approved in the meeting are upgrading Hathazari to Raozan portion of Chattogram-Rangamati national highway into four-lane with Tk 104.69 crore, upgrading Itakhola-Mothkhola-Katiadi Road and Noyapara-Araihazar-Narsingdi-Raipura regional highway with Tk 984.85 crore, Construction of Pipeline from Dhonua to Mymensingh for ensuring gas supply to Mymensingh Combined Cycle Power Plant with Tk 553.16 crore.
The remaining projects approved in the meeting are Population-based uterine and breast cancer screening Programme (EPCBCSP) including electronic data tracking, 2nd revised with an additional cost of Tk 129.67 crore, Protecting Khagrachhari town and adjacent infrastructures from river erosion with Tk 586.01 crore, Upazila Governance and Development Project( 2nd revised) with an additional cost of Tk 211.50 crore and Greater Dinajpur rural infrastructures development project with Tk 1,800 crore.
