Fact box: All you need to know about Bangladesh metro rail project

The much-hyped first-ever metro rail service in Dhaka is expected to start initial operations from next year.

With high promises of saving the city dwellers from the menace of  traffic congestions, the construction work of the project is moving on with speed.

Here are each and every detail regarding the project that you may have a desire to know.

Metro rail fact sheet

• Dhaka Metro Rail Project total cost of Tk 22,000 crore
• Officially known as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6, metro rail service is expected to open half of its 20.10 kilometres by the end of 2019
• Once completed, the service would carry 60,000 passengers/hour
• 20km Metro Rail route will be constructed from Uttara to Bangladesh Bank having 16 stops
• The project will save of Tk 200 billion/ year, equivalent to 1.5%  gross domestic production (GDP) and 17% of the total tax revenue
• It will significantly reduce travel time from one end to the other to 36 minutes from at least two hours
• The Japan government through Jica will provide Tk 16,600 crores of the total project cost of Tk 22,000 crore ($2.5 billion) as loan at 0.01% interest rate. The rest will have to be managed by the government
• Nippon Koei Ltd of Japan is leading the consortium of consultants with partners Nippon Koei India Ltd, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, Mott MacDonald Ltd India, Mott MacDonald Ltd UK and Development Design Consultants Ltd Bangladesh
• The consortium has prepared metro's detailed design, supervised construction work and helped manage Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project, the official name of the metro scheme, with Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) as its implementing agency
• The metro rail will have 16 stations at Uttara, Mirpur, Rokeya Sarani, Khamarbari, Farmgate, Sonargaon Hotel, Shahbagh, Doel Chattar and on Topkhana Road.
• The 12km track of the first part stretches from north Uttara to Agargaon.
• According to Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica), 14 trains would operate every three minutes and carry 60,000 passengers every hour in both directions.
• The estimated time to travel the 20km distance, from north end of Uttara to Motijheel, is 35 minutes. The trains would have six cars each, all air conditioned.
• The government has allocated Tk 3,425.83 crore for the project in 2018 fiscal year, which is about 64 percent of the amount it was supposed to foot.
• The second phase, which will be from Agargaon to Motijheel, will be complete by December 2020. The service will start with six trains and once the second phase is completed 24 trains will be sent out. The trains will be from Mitsubishi.
• The metro rail will have noise barriers and vibration-free tracks and thus be environment-friendly. the cars would be made of stainless steel and aluminium alloy,
• The project is being implemented by government-owned Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd while Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority is supervising.

Project timeline

• In December 2012,  the Executive Committee on National Economic Council approves the Metro Rail scheme.
• In February 2013, Jica signs the loan agreement with Bangladesh.
• On November 19, 2013, Md Aftabuddin Talukder, executive director of DTCA and Yoshiko Tsunoda, chairman of Nippon Koei Ltd, sign the consultancy deal in Dhaka.
• The $2.7b metro rail project got a shot in the arm upon receiving Japanese funding in February 2014.
• Road Transport and Bridge Minister Obaidul Quader placed the Metro Rail Bill 2014 on November 30, 2014 at the parliament in a bid to provide fast and improved public transportation in Dhaka and ease traffic congestion in the capital.
• The first tender for pre-qualification to procure 24 locomotives, 144 coaches and equipment for the depot was floated early January 2015.
• On March 27, 2015, the government signed a contract with Japanese Tokyu Construction Company to develop the Metro Rail depot.
• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on June 26, 2016 inaugurated the construction work on the much-hyped first-ever metro rail service in the capital. Through the inauguration of the construction work, a formal commencement of ground development for a depot began today. The depot is the foremost component to be in place for building the metro rail service system, as metro trains will be launched on the elevated lines from the depot.
• The prime minister inaugurated the construction work from Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the capital.
• The project has been delayed by at least six months because of the terrorist attack in Gulshan in July 2016 that claimed the lives of seven Japanese nationals involved with the project.
• Authorities of Dhaka's maiden metro rail project on May 3, 2017, signed three contracts with two companies for the civil construction work at the Uttara depot and building elevated rail viaducts from north Uttara to Agargaon. According to one of the contracts signed, a joint venture of Italian-Thai Development Public Company and Sinohydro Corporation is going to do the Tk 1,595 crore civil constructions at the metro rail depot,
• The metro authorities signed the other two contracts (package-3 and -4) with Ital-Thai. The contracts worth Tk 4,230 crore were for the construction of 10km-long elevated viaducts and nine stations between north Uttara to Agargaon.
• The authorities gave the work order to the contractors on August 1, 2017.  
• Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on August 2, 2017 inaugurated construction of the first part of the elevated railway (viaduct) and nine stations of the country's much talked-about maiden metro rail in the capital. This is the visible beginning of physical construction of the elevated rail tracks and stations
• On September 13, 2017, three more agreements with Chinese and Thai firms on the country's first-ever metro rail project were signed. Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), a state-owned enterprise founded to implement the metro rail lines across the Dhaka city, signed the separate contract packages (CPs) including CP-2, CP-3 and CP-4 worth over Tk 58.26 billion ($719 million) with the firms, Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited, a Thailand-based construction firm, and Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corporation Limited.
• On April 30, 2018, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd today signed contracts with two joint-venture companies for package-5 and package-6 of MRT Line-6 known as Metro Rail. Dhaka Mass Transit Company signed contract for Package-5 with Takken Corporation, Abdul Monem Ltd and Abenikko JV for Tk 1,855 crore. And for Tk 2,332 crore, it inked a deal with Sumitomo Mitsui Construction Co Ltd JV Package-6.