On Thursday, February 2, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will launch the construction of the nation’s first-ever underground metro rail (MRT Line-1).
“The Prime Minister is scheduled to inaugurate the construction works of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-1 at 11am on February 2 at sector-4, Purbachal,” Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) M A N Siddique told BSS on Monday.
According to him, the first-ever underground and elevated MRT Line-1 will be built by the government along a distance of 31.241 km connecting Airport-Kamalapur and Purbachal-Natun Bazar-Pitalganj, Rupganj. The megaproject would be carried out by the DMTCL, he stated.
The first rail depot will be built in the Pitalganj neighborhood of Narayanganj as part of the MRT Line-1 plan, and all preparations have been made for the start of construction, according to the project specifics.
It said that part one of MRT Line-1 is: Airport Route (Airport to Kamalapur) having 19.872 km long underground with 12 stations. The part two is Purbachal Route (Natun Bazar to Pitalganj Depot, Rupganj) having 11.369 km elevated with nine stations, of which seven stations will be overhead, while Natun Bazar and Nadda stations will be underground as part of the airport route.
According to the managing director, passengers would have the option of using the inter-change to travel from Purbachal or Purnachal to the airport via MRT Line-5’s Northern Route from the Natun Bazar station.
The MRT Line-1 will take 24 minutes to go from the Dhaka airport to Kamalapur, with pauses at 12 underground stations, and 20 minutes to travel from Notun Bazar to Purbachal, with breaks at seven stations, according to the project’s specifics.
Additionally, it stated that eight lakh passengers will be able to use this route once MRT Line 1 was operational.
The subterranean stations on MRT Line 1 will have three storeys. On the first basement level will be the ticket window and other services.
The second level will contain the platform. The third storey will house the elevated station’s ticket window and platform. There will be escalators, steps, and lifts in both the elevated and underground stations.
Contracts for the project were signed by the DMTCL with Bangladesh’s Max Infrastructure Limited and Tokyo Construction Company Limited of Japan.
Twelve packages will be used to implement the project.
