Transport system
Abu Abdullah, Karwan Bazar, Dhaka
Among all the various alternatives that are being proposed and considered to provide an affordable and convenient transport system for the metropolitan city, an overhead light rail transit system should be considered with top priority. This will be a much cheaper system than an underground metro system, which not only is more capital-intensive with a higher level of security risk but also is more expensive to maintain & operate properly.During the fag end of the last Awami League government's tenure, there was a news item in the national dailies about some foreign entrepreneurs who were interested to set up such a system for the city at their own cost. They also reportedly were ready to establish the power plants necessary for ensuring an uninterrupted supply of electricity for the whole system. The GoB was supposed to provide the lands for the system. Prima facie, the proposal seemed to be very attractive but before anything could be done, there was change in the political "musical chair" and the new mandarins in state power in their infinite wisdom (or, due to an ossified mentality to belittle anything and everything done by their predecessors in state power) thought it expedient to bury the project. Nothing has since been heard of the project. The present government is taking many pro-people projects with long-term benefits to the city dwellers. We would request the government to explore the said project and if found feasible economically and otherwise go for implementing the same. One request would be not to associate any (so called development) partner with it. Another request would be to use state-of-the art equipments from manufacturers of international repute.
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