The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has approved a project involving Tk 849 crore, aiming at improving rail communication on Dhaka-Tongi-Joydevpur route.
Under the project, a 49-kilometre dual-gauge rail track would be constructed between Dhaka-Tongi section and a 13-kilometre dual-gauge tract between Tongi-Joydevpur section.
The project would reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka city, and help commuter train services to operate on Dhaka, Narayanganj, Tangail, Joydevpur, Mymensingh and Brahmanbaria routes, said a statement from the planning ministry.
Besides, it would enable a new intercity train service to operate between Dhaka and the proposed Hightech park at Gazipur.
The approval came from an Ecnec meeting held at the NEC conference room with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair yesterday.
The approved project was one of the 14 projects to be implemented under the Indian dollar credit line sharing an outlay of Tk 696 crore from its $1 billion fund, added the statement.
The Ecnec meeting approved another project to enhance civic facilities of Khulna city dwellers through developing a planned housing scheme. The project "Ahsanabad Residential Area Development" involves a cost of Tk 125 crore.
After the meeting, Bhuiyan Shafiqul Islam, acting secretary of the Planning Division, told reporters that besides these two, nine other projects involving Tk 1,366 crore had been approved.
The other approved projects include establishment of two self contained 10 KW FM radio stations at Mymensingh and Gopalganj costing Tk 76 crore and monitoring the situation of vital statistics of Bangladesh project involving Tk 30 crore.