‘Dhaka unlivable’: Embarrassing, painful: Quader

It is painful and embarrassing that Dhaka is one of the most unlivable cities and the most polluted one in the world, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said yesterday.

Bangladesh is one of the 11 countries with fast progressing economies, but buses in Dhaka city are rundown, he said.

Terming Dhaka an unplanned city, the minister said a subway network should be built for it. "We have been able to build the Padma Bridge and we are able to construct the subway."

They were speaking at a seminar at a hotel organised to reveal the draft final report of the feasibility study and preliminary design for construction of the subway.

Dhaka South City Corporation Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said the project should be "cost-effective."

The draft report recommended a 258-km subway network to ease congestion. There will be 11 subway routes in the city and its outskirts. The routes will be constructed in three phases.

It would require $41,306 million for constructing four routes of around 105km in the first phase.

Around $34,477 million would be required for building four other routes in the second phase (2030-2040) and around $27,025 million for another three routes and expansion of two of the four routes constructed in the first phase by 2050, reads the document.

Consultants, who carried out the feasibility study on behalf of Bangladesh Bridge Authority (BBA), opined that Dhaka subway is socio-economically feasible and financially sustainable with partial public support. The project is attractive to investors.

Instructed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, BBA started the feasibility study in September 2018. Led by Spanish firm TYPSA, a consortium conducted the study.

Speaking at the event before Quader, DSCC Mayor Taposh said the current bus fare in the city is Tk 2.15 per km. "Why would the passengers pay more for travelling on the subway?

"I don't think the feasibility study is correct if the cost [of travelling on the subway] is more than Tk 2.15 [per km]. So, the commercial survey has to be done."