Airport to Gazipur on BRT: Service from Dec 2022
The long-delayed dedicated rapid bus service from the Dhaka airport to Gazipur is set to start from December next year -- six years after its original start date and at more than double the outlay.
Called the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Line-3, the service was part of the government's plan to decentralise Dhaka city, one of the most densely populated cities in the world with high rents.
The 20.5-kilometre bus corridor would allow people to reach Dhaka from Gazipur, a satellite town near Dhaka where the cost of living is much lower, in 35-40 minutes, a journey that now takes about 1.5 hours and can go up to four hours. From the airport, one can take the metro rail service to reach the other parts of Dhaka.
The project was taken up in November 2012 for completion by December 2016 at a cost of Tk 2,037.9 crore.
But it got delayed due to various problems including changes in work scope and design, waterlogging in the project areas between Tongi and Joydebpur.
The project -- which is being jointly funded by the government, the Asian Development Bank, the French Development Agency and the Global Environment Facility -- went through four revisions, with its total cost now estimated to be Tk 4,268.3 crore.
The current deadline is June 2022, meaning another revision is in the offing.
In the meantime, passengers using the roads suffered immensely, especially during the rainy season, due to the construction works that battered the existing road and caused severe traffic congestion.
The overall progress of the project at present is 63.27 percent, said Shafiqul Islam, managing director of Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company that would implement, operate and manage the BRT, during a press conference at the BRT office in Uttara yesterday.
As per the schedule, the project would be completed by September 2022.
"We are keeping a little margin and are hoping to start the service from December next year," he said, adding that commuters would not face further suffering for the construction works after December this year.
Asked about the delay, Islam said the contractors started the main physical work only in 2018 -- six years after the project's start -- after completion of detailed design and tender.
There were also delays in land acquisition and shifting utility services. The lack of enough drainages, insufficient money flow of the contractors, the pandemic and the need to keep the road operational for current traffic also slowed down the project's pace.
After the completion of the project, dedicated buses would be operated on two central lanes of the highway, while there would have four lanes for mixed traffic; two more lanes for slow-moving vehicles; with footpaths on both sides.
The service would start with 100 new buses, which would be able to transport 20,000 passengers per hour from Gazipur's Shibbari area to the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA). There would be a total of 25 stations on the corridor.
The fare would initially be the same as the city bus service, with the lowest fare being Tk 5 and the highest Tk 55.
The BRT would introduce a shuttle service with MRT Line-6, the first-ever metro rail to be operated from Uttara to Motijheel; MRT-1, the first underground metro rail from the airport to Kamalapur; and the third terminal of HSIA.
As per the preliminary plan, the BRT Line-3 is supposed to connect Gazipur with Jhilmil in Keraniganj via the airport.
But last year, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said they have drooped the plan due to the bad experience of the under-construction BRT.
Asked whether an "incomplete" BRT Line will provide the desired benefit, Islam said: "Isn't reaching the airport from Gazipur within 40 minutes a benefit of BRT?"
He, however, hoped the authority would revive the plan to at least up to Gulistan to get the full benefits of the BRT service.
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