The much-awaited metro rail will run from Agargaon to Uttara route on the Great Victory Day (Dec 16) this year to coincide with the 50th anniversary of independence of Bangladesh, said the Planning Minister MA Mannan.
He made the disclosure while inspecting the city's Uttara metro rail depot construction site on Wednesday. Top officials of the project including managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) MAN Siddique were present at the time.
The Planning Minister said, “I believe in our system. I have confidence in our staff, engineers, and all those who are working. They are also citizens of this country, they also have patriotism. We wish to inaugurate the first section of metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon on the Victory Day.”
“It is our desire, but those who are doing the work, we have to consider the technical aspects of the construction. I believe - we have confidence, people have confidence and we strongly feel that they will be able to complete the work on time,” he mentioned.
“We hope that we will be able to inaugurate metro rail on the route on the Victory Day of 2021,” he said adding, “The head of government also expects that. The Prime Minister has requested to do so.”
“I am requesting on-the-spot on behalf of the government today to work harder without wasting time and fulfill the expectation,” he said.
Mannan mentioned that the total length of the section from Agargaon to Uttara in the capital is 11.73 km. There are nine stations on this route, 11.4 km viaduct is visible.
“The local and foreign experts are trying their best to maintain good pace of the construction work,” he said adding that they are also working amid Coronavirus pandemic.
The Metrorail project is being implemented by state-owned Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL).
MAN Siddique, managing director of DMTCL and former senior secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport, said that the project is moving ahead with plans to officially inaugurate the first Metrorail in Bangladesh on 16 December 2021.
“If there was no corona crisis, the progress of the work would have increased further,” he added.