Only 13 per cent of Bangladesh's maiden metro rail (MRT-6) project has been implemented, in terms of spending allocation, until December last, officials said Monday.
They said state-owned Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) spent Tk 28.82 billion until last year out of the total estimated cost of Tk 219.85 billion for the Uttara-Pallabi-Agargaon-Framgate-Motijheel metro rail line project.
The Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) of the Planning Commission recently asked the DMTCL to submit action plans for construction of the MRT line and progress report of each of the construction packages that have been already contracted out.
A Thailand based company, Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited, is building the 12km MRT line between Uttara (3rd phase) and Agargaon under the first phase of the total 20.1 kilometre metro rail route up to Motijheel.
As per the current schedule, the contractor would build the first phase of the elevated metro rail by June 2019 and the rest by June 2024, officials said.
The DMTCL started the project from July 2012 as the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) approved it in early 2012.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has already confirmed providing nearly US$2.0 billion in loan for constructing the MRT line-6 through an agreement with the government of Bangladesh in January 2013.
Officials said the DMTCL signed three construction contracts (CP2, CP3 and CP4) with the Italian-Thai company and with Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. in May 2017 in Dhaka.
The contract package CP2 is for civil and building works of the depot at Uttara while CP3 and CP4 are for the construction of metro rail tracks and nine elevated stations from Uttara to Agargaon.
The Italian-Thai company has already started construction of 12-kilometre viaduct between Uttara and Agargoan, and nine stations at a cost of Tk 42.30 billion.
Meanwhile, the DMTCL separated the remaining works of the project under four other packages.
Under the CP5 package, the DMTCL will construct viaducts and elevated stations from Agargaon to Karwan Bazar and under the CP6 package, it will construct viaducts and elevated stations from Karwan Bazar to Motijheel.
Under the CP7 package, the DMTCL will build the electro-mechanical (E&M) systems and under the CP8 package, it will procure rolling stock and depot equipment.
A Japanese joint venture company, which already obtained the work for supplying the rolling stock for MRT-6, will deliver 24 sets of trains-one in every month from December 2021.
DTCA officials said the land development and civil works are being done for the depot under the CP1 and CP2 respectively. More than two-thirds of the land development works is complete.
DMTCL officials said the metro rail will come to the stations every three and half minutes and it will take 37 minutes for the train to travel between Motijheel and Uttara.
The MRT line-6 will be able to carry 60,000 passengers every hour in both the ways of the railway line.
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