Metro rail work before power handover

The caretaker government might start the construction work of metro rail or elevated expressway before it hands over power next year, the communications adviser said yesterday.
"We want to start the work as soon as possible. Hopefully we will start next year," Communication Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin said.
He was talking to the journalists following a presentation on proposed metro rail service in Dhaka city by Contech Ltd at the auditorium of communications ministry. The company was the lowest bidder in the international tender invited.
The government would decide about which one to be given priority, metro rail or elevated expressway, after conducting a study, the communications adviser said adding that the Board of Investment (BOI) will conduct the study soon.
Following the BOI study, an international tender will be floated again and the work order will be given to the lowest bidder, Matin said. The BOI would finish their study within December, he added.
In their presentation, the Contech Ltd said that the soil of Dhaka city is suitable for constructing underground metro rail line. According to their plan, the metro rail would ply six routes in the city and the fares would range from Tk 5 to Tk 25. The project would take four and half years to complete.
Initially, the company would lay the underground tracks in very shallow depth; only 24 feet below the surface.
Experts from different departments concerned as well as from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) were present at the session.
Following the presentation, the experts observed that the design and planning should have provision for expansion of the metro railway service as the city is going to expand towards the east and south.
They were also for making a proper planning of traffic management while constructing the metro railway.