Essay : Dhaka Metro Rail Project

Dhaka Metro Rail Project

Introduction : Traffic congestion in Dhaka city has been a regular phenomenon. Due to traffic congestion, the valuable times of the citizen of Dhaka is wasted. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is one of the most highly populated and traffic-congested cities in the world with an ever-increasing population of 15 million. With continued economic growth and development, unbearable traffic congestion all around the city has become a grim reality due to excessive (মাত্রাতিরিক্ত) population pressure and people’s tendency (প্রবণতা) to urban living habits for easy livelihood. Due to the people’s movement from one place to another for daily activities, most of the roads remain occupied by vehicles and people face unbearable traffic congestion and waste the valuable times. If the city finds the solution of the congestion, the people will get reprived (মুক্তি) of unbearable traffic situation and can utilize those hours in other developing sectors. With keeping this traffic congestion in mind, the government has made some plans to implement. Dhaka metro rail is one of them. 

History of Dhaka Metro Rail : Though the world’s first metro rail system opened in 1890 in London, in Bangladesh it is a totally new concept. The urgency to mitigate (লাঘব করা) the mass transportation problems in Dhaka prompted the Bangladesh government to seek expansion and modernization created the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority. An urban transport plan was commissioned in 2008, wherein the government laid out a comprehensive transport plan naming Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for the greater Dhaka city and its adjoining areas. From 70 different policy recommendations under the STP, 10 comprehensive transportation strategies were evaluated. Later the Strategic Transport Plan was revised and newly adopted plan includes construction of 5 Metro Rail Lines across the city. Under the Road Transport and Highways Division of the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridge, the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development Project (DMRTDP) was taken up by the government. In June 2013, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) was established by the government to implement the Metro Rail Lines across the city. 

Dhaka Metro Rail at a Glace

Native name : Bengali – ঢাকা মেট্রো 

Locale : Dhaka, Bangladesh 

Transit type : Rapid transit 

Number of Station : Under construction 16 planned 52 

Number of lines : Under construction : line 6, planned : Line 1,5 

Daily ridership : 483,000 

Operation(s) : Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd. 

System length : 20.10 km 

Track gauge : Standard gauge 

Project cost : 21,985 Crores 

Project Sign and Management : The deal (চুক্তি) for construction of the 20.1 kilometers, line 6, costing 2.8 billion USD, was signed by the government of Bangladesh with Japan International Cooperation Agency on 20 February 2013. The first route, originally projected to start from Uttara, a northern suburb of Dhaka, to Saidabad in the south of the capital, was eventually extended north to Uttara and truncated south to Motijheel. 

The project is being managed by the Communication Ministry’s Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority and a consortium of foreign as well as Bangladeshi firm known as NKDM Association is acting as General Consultant (GC). The project will be constructed under the supervision of (DMTCL) under the jurisdiction of Road Transport and Highway Division, Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, Government of Bangladesh. 

Metro Rail Project Cost : Bangladesh’s aim to build a metro rail project will cost 737.5 million USD to ease the movement of Dhaka city’s 15 million inhabitants. Of the total cost, JICA will provide 75 percent and the rest will be met by the government of Bangladesh. JICA will provide loans with 0.01 percent interest payable within 40 years, including a 10-years grace period. 

Characteristics of Metro Rail in Dhaka : MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) LINE-6 is being implemented to make life easier, for everyone in Dhaka. It will run all the way from Uttara to Motijheel, covering the distance of 18.9 kilometers with 16 stations along half an hour. To maintain and use MRT line-6 properly, an international standard Rolling Stock will be deployed. There will be 24-sets of trains each set consisting of 6 cars initially with a plan for expanding to 8 cars per set in the future. In order to ensure safety for the passengers, Platform Screen Door (PSD) will be installed on all stations. The metro rail coaches will be equipped (সজ্জিত) with modern features like information display, will organized seating arrangements, air-conditioning with wheelchair accessibility on both ends of the train. During peak hours the trains will run every 4 minutes 30 seconds in 2021. In 2021 an estimated 5 lakh passengers will commute by MRP Line 6 every day. The viaduct of the MRT Line 6 will be generally 10.4m high. In order to reduce vibration and noise, Floating Slab Track, Continuous Welded Rails (CWR) and Noise Barrier wall will be installed wherever necessary. 

The Advantages of Dhaka Metro Rail : If completed once, the Dhaka city people will have some certain advantages. 

• Large number of people can move very easily and quickly. 
• There will be no traffic congestion like roads. 
• The people can have quick communication to their desired destination. 
• In peak hours the people will not have wariness to reach their working places in time as in 4 minutes there will be a train. 
• The people will have sound pollution-free transport as there will be sound barriers. 
• Journey to workplace will be enjoyable one as people can have modern train facilities and beautiful city look from above. 
• The metro rail will save thousands of working hours which will help people to engage themselves in different developing activities thus contributing to economic development in our country. 
• Travelling by metro rail is considered as the best means of travel as compared to driving by car. There will be fewer accidents than other transports. 
• There will less pressure on roads so the Dhaka city will have a newer look than before. 

Conclusion : The Dhaka Metro Rail is an approved metro rail system under construction in Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. Together with a separate BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system it has been long called for to solve the extreme amount of traffic jams that occur throughout the entire city on a daily basis. Once finished, the Dhaka Metro rail will be the most time-efficient, reliable, safe, comfortable and environment-friendly solution, that will transform Dhaka into a more active, commutable, sustainable and pollution-free city.