Muktadesh Desk: The construction work of the underground metro rail MRT Line-1 project on Pragati Sarani (‘Biruttam Rafiqul Islam Sarani’) in the capital’s Badda-Rampura has started from Thursday (October 30) night. The road, which is under the pressure of vehicles throughout the day since the work of the metro line began, may cause long traffic jams. The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited has requested the public and vehicle drivers of this route to take sufficient time to leave.
This information was given in a notification by the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), which is responsible for the construction and operation of the metro rail.
According to DMTCL, some parts of this metro rail will pass above ground and some parts underground. The underground part falls between Airport, Khilkhet, Badda, Rampura, Malibagh, Rajarbagh, Kamalapur. The underground railway will be built under the existing road of this route. Most of it will go 10 to 30 meters below the ground. However, the deepest part will be the area between Malibagh and Rajarbagh. In this part, the train will run 70 meters below the ground.
The cost of implementing the 1.241-kilometer-long metro rail has been estimated at 52,561 crore taka. The bulk of this, i.e. 39,450 crore taka, is being provided as a loan by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). This is going to be the largest project in terms of taka in the country’s communication infrastructure sector. The line is, however, divided into two parts. One part is from the airport to Kamalapur, which will be called the Airport Route. The second part is from Notun Bazar to Pitalganj Depot, which will be called the Purbachal Route.
The total length of the airport route is 19.872 kilometers. And the country’s first underground metro rail is going to be built on this route. There will be a total of 12 underground stations. They are Airport, Airport Terminal-3, Khilkhet, Jamuna Future Park, Notun Bazar, North Badda, Badda, Hatirjheel East, Rampura, Malibagh, Rajarbagh and Kamalapur. On the other hand, the total length of the Purbachal route is 11.369 kilometers. It will be entirely aerial and the number of stations will be 9.
