Officials at the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited on Tuesday said that the repair and replacement cost of the two damaged metro rail stations at Mirpur-10 and Kazipara in the capital would be Tk 18.86 crore though the authorities during the ousted Awami League regime claimed that the amount of the loss due to the July 19 damages was around Tk 500 crore and it would take one year to repair the stations.
DMTCL officials on Tuesday, after the initial repair, however, said that they would require three to four more months to replace different equipment and buy some spare parts.聽
On July 19, when the country was witnessing a student-led movement demanding government job quota reform, the vending machines, ticket counters, offices, police control rooms, computers, television screens and closed circuit cameras inside the Mirpur 10 and Kazipara stations were vandalised. The movement led to a student-mass uprising that ousted the Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5.
After the vandalism, officials concerned said that the total loss due to the damage to the two metro rail stations was around Tk 500 crore, according to a report published on July 30 by the state-owned news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha.
The then road transport and bridges minister, Obaidul Quader, in July had claimed that it would take one year to complete repair works at the two stations.
Quoting the company鈥檚 managing director Md Abdur Rouf, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported on September 17 that the cost for repairing the two stations was earlier estimated at Tk 300 crore. But, a committee was later formed to further scrutinise the repair cost.
Nearly three months after the vandalism, the Mirpur-10 station was reopened to the public on Tuesday. The Kazipara station was reopened to the public on September 20.
DMTCL managing director Abdur Rouf told 抖阴精品 on Tuesday that they divided their work regarding these two stations in two phases.
鈥楿nder phase one, we reopened the stations after repairing and replacement,鈥� he said.
Under phase two, he said, they would replace the equipment and buy some spare parts for the future.
He said that they had reopened the stations after repairs at a lower cost by using local technology and products, and by replacing materials from three less crowded stations鈥� Bijoy Sarani, Uttara South and Uttara Centre 鈥� and the exhibition centre at Uttara.
Under phase one, for repair and replacement, the authorities spent Tk 1.25 crore 鈥� Tk 0.99 crore for Mirpur-10 and Tk 0.26 crore for Kazipara, the managing director said.
For replacing the equipment and buying some spare parts within three to four months, they would need Tk 17.61 crore 鈥� Tk 11.77 crore for Mirpur-10 and Tk 5.84 crore for Kazipara, he said.
He said that the total repair and replacement works for the two stations would cost Tk 18.86 crore.
The DMTCL chief also said that all the costs would be adjusted from the ongoing Mass Rapid Transit Line 6 project.
He said that they did not ask for any extra money from the government to do the repair work.聽
Abdur Rouf said that the DMTCL鈥檚 engineering and technical teams had done the works of replacement, repair and reconstruction.
The road transport and bridges affairs adviser to the interim government, Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan, and senior DMTCL officials visited the Mirpur 10 station on Tuesday.
The DMTCL, under the road transport and bridges ministry, is the implementing agency of the country鈥檚 first-ever electricity-powered elevated and air-conditioned rail system on the 20.1-kilometre-long Uttara鈥揗otijheel route in the capital.
The services of the country鈥檚 first metro rail system were inaugurated on December 28, 2022. The route was extended up to Motijheel in November 2023.
