MRT-1 to be built without damaging Purbachal Expressway: MAN Siddique

Metro rail authorities today said they would not have to break down the Purbachal Expressway to construct the elevated section of MRT Line 1.

MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd, said while briefing media ahead of the opening of the construction work of the county's first underground metro rail on February 2.

The Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line 1 has two routes, an underground route from the Dhaka airport to Kamalapur and an elevated route from Natun Bazar to Purbachal.

Several media outlets reported that a portion of the newly constructed Purbachal Expressway has to be taken down for the construction of MRT Line 1.

MAN Siddique said they have coordinated with the expressway authority from the beginning and three to four metres of land was kept free on the median of the expressway.

"We will take around 1.5 metre land for metro rail, so, no road has to be broken down for the work," he said.