JS passes Metro Rail Act
The parliament today passed the Metro Rail Act, 2015 that aimed at easing traffic congestion and providing fast and improved public transport service in the capital.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader placed the bill before the House seeking its immediate passage. The House, with deputy Speaker Fazle Rabbi Miah in the chair, passed the bill by a voice vote.
Before the passage of the bill, the minister told the parliament that the government took the initiative to ease traffic congestion of Dhaka city and to improve the public transport system.
“Metro rail service will be operated in Bangladesh for the first time. A specific law is needed to construct the metro rail, its operation, maintenance and control. That’s why the bill has been brought,” he told parliament.
He said under the act, Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 route will be constructed from Uttara to Bangladesh Bank via Pallabi, Farmgate and Shahbagh. It will cover 16 stations on its route.
Six districts--Dhaka, Gazipur, Munshiganj, Narsingdi, Manikganj and
Narayanganj--would come under the purview of the law.
The road minister said gradually MRT line 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 would be constructed to connect the whole capital and its adjacent districts in the future.
Quader said the first tender for the construction of the 20km metro rail would be invited on January 31 and two more tenders in February and five others in 2015.
He said the physical construction works of the project would start in January next year. Quader also said they expect the work will be completed by 2019, which is two years ahead of the schedule.
Japan has approved $2.1 billion in soft loan for the $2.7 billion project. The three-year delay has increased the project cost to $2.7 billion from $1.7 billion.
According to a Jica study, the trains will operate every three minutes and carry 60,000 passengers in every hour. The metro rail project, the country's second largest infrastructure project after the $2.9 billion Padma bridge project, has faced complexities in the last few years over modification of routes following objections from the air force and to avoid overlapping with the Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover.
Earlier on November 10, 2014, the Cabinet approved the draft of the Metro Rail Act.
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