Demolition of Iconic Kamalapur Station Plaza: PMO gives go-ahead

The Prime Minister's Office has given its consent to shifting the iconic Kamalapur Station Plaza further north, which would mean dismantling the structure and erecting a similar one in the new location.

"The station building would be shifted to the northern side to accommodate the scissor crossing of MRT-6 [Mass Rapid Transit-6] line…," reads a PMO document.

"And Bangladesh Railway and DMTCL [Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited] have already reached a consensus in this regard," reads the minutes of a meeting presided over by Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus.

The meeting took place in December last year and the minutes were released earlier this month.

The parabolic umbrella structure at Kamalapur represents one of Dhaka's signature landmarks and is considered one of the modern architectural creations of the 1960s.

In November last year, BR and the metro rail authorities agreed to a new plan which requires shifting the Kamalapur Station Plaza to a nearby location to make space for the MRT-6 line, extending up to Kamalapur from Motijheel, and to turn the station into a multimodal transport hub (MmTH).

A railway official said the station plaza has to be shifted 130 metres northward from its current location to implement the new plan.

After that meeting where both sides agreed to the new plan, Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan told reporters that the existing plaza will be demolished and a similar one will be built to the north as per the new plan that will turn the station into a "true transport hub".

He, however, had said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would make the final decision in this regard as the existing plaza, an iconic structure, has to be demolished to implement the new plan.

The BR and the DMTCL, the implementing authority of the country's first metro rail, were locked in a dispute over the extension design plan of the MRT-6 line.

The MRT-6 line was initially designed as an elevated line from Uttara to Motijheel. In 2019, the DMTCL planned to stretch the MRT-6 line directly to the railway station following a PM directive.

Although the BR did not oppose the extension, it contested the DMTCL design for the extension, saying that it would frustrate the BR's plan to turn the Kamalapur station into an MmTH.

The station, in its current location, would be completely covered by the MRT-6 structure if the DMTCL design is implemented. There would no option but to shift the station because even if the existing plan is modified the station will be partially covered by the MRT-6 structure, the BR officials argued.

Even the Japanese ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism wrote to the Public Private Partnership Authority of Bangladesh to change the proposed design.

In the meeting between DMTCL and the BR, Japan's Kajima corporation -- which is leading the Kamalapur MmTH Sub Working Group -- proposed a modification to the design of the MRT-6 structure, to which both parties agreed, BR officials said.

But as it would still partially cover the station, it was decided to shift the station, subject to PMO approval.

PMO GIVES CONSENT

PMO secretary on December 14 presided over a meeting on the projects to be implemented under the public-private partnership model with government-to-government initiative between Bangladesh and Japan.

Kamalapur MmTH was one of those projects discussed. The minutes of the meeting was sent to the offices concerned in the second week of this month to implement the decisions.

Project Director Monirul Islam Firozi talked about different aspects and challenges of the MmTH project at the meeting, including the agreement BR has reached with DMTCL over the design of the MRT-6 extension.

The meeting decided that the plan of the Kamalapur MmTH has to be prepared coordinating the stations and tracks of MRT-1, 2, 4, the proposed subway line and alignment of the Dhaka Elevated Expressway.

The existing building of the Kamalapur station would be shifted further north to give space to MRT-6's scissor crossing for trains to change direction, the meeting decided.

Public Private Partnership Authority will hire consultants to carry out a detailed study to check the overall situation of the project area, it added.

A BR official said although they have got the PMO's consent to shift the station plaza, they would consider two things -- condition of the over 50-year-old structure and MmTH's design – before taking a decision on whether it would be absolutely necessary to dismantle it.

Kamalapur station was unveiled on July 27, 1968, which also marked the last journey of a train from Fulbaria, with vast paddy fields transformed into one of the most beautiful and modern railway stations in Asia.

Officially known as Dhaka Railway Station, it is now the central and the largest rail station of Bangladesh. The iconic parabolic umbrella structure at Kamalapur was designed by Daniel Dunham and Robert Boughey.

Architects and urbanists, meanwhile, have been demanding that the authorities  build the multimodal hub and carry out any expansion of metro rail  keeping the unique structure intact in its current position.