The relocation of the lines of the utility services for the construction of mass rapid transit line 1, the first underground metro rail system in Bangladesh, is causing traffic congestion at different points in the capital.
Following this, Dhaka Metropolitan Police is planning for the diversion of the vehicles for some routes to ease the gridlock on roads.
The government is currently working to build a network of six MRT lines in Dhaka by 2030 to reduce traffic congestion and improve the environment in the capital and urban areas around it.
Being implemented by the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited, the six MRT lines will cover 129 kilometres of distance 鈥� about 68km elevated and about 61km underground 鈥� having more than 100 stations.
The 31.241-km-long MRT Line-1 between the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and the Dhaka (Kamalapur) Railway Station will have two parts 鈥� the Airport Route and the Purbachal Route.
The 19.872-km-long underground Airport Route will have 12 stations and the 11.369-km-long elevated Purbachal Route will cover nine stations.
Construction work of the line was inaugurated on February 2, 2023.
The project director, Md Abul Kashem Bhuiyan, said that they started the work of relocation of the lines of the utility services from Nadda near the Jamuna Future Park this year.
From October 7, the project office started to relocate the lines of the utility services from the airport area.
Passengers on the roads alleged that they had been facing huge traffic congestion at Jamuna Future Park and airport areas as well as its adjacent areas for the past several days.
They expressed concern that the traffic congestion would become severe in these areas soon due to the relocation works.
Officials at Dhaka Metropolitan Police鈥檚 traffic department said that traffic congestion became common in the Jamuna Future Park area.
A senior DMP traffic department official said that they would make the Banani 27 road one-way for one or two years to divert the vehicles from the Pragati Road in the Kuril area.
鈥榃e will make the road one-way within seven to 10 days,鈥� he mentioned.
He, however, said that they had no plan for diversion in the airport area right now.
The entire MRT Line-1 project is being implemented in 12 packages at a cost of around Tk 53,900 crore while the Japan International Cooperation Agency is providing around Tk 39,450 crore as project assistance.
Among the nine Purbachal Route stations, seven will be elevated while Nodda and Natun Bazar stations will be coordinated with the underground route.
According to the project progress report till September this year, under package one, the land development work at Pitalganj depot area has a progress of 75 per cent while all other 11 packages are under tender processes now.
Of the six lines, the country鈥檚 first-ever electricity-powered elevated and air-conditioned rail system on the Uttara鈥揂gargaon route under the MRT line 6 project was inaugurated on December 28, 2022. 聽The line was extended up to Motijheel in November 2023.
