The authorities of the Bangladesh Railway and the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited which operates metro rail in Dhaka are still at loggerheads over a space for DMTCL to construct a yard for its MRT line 6 at the site of a multimodal transport hub proposed by railway authorities in the capital鈥檚 Kamalapur.
Bangladesh Railway officials alleged that DMTCL was planning to construct a yard at the proposed site of the hub without obtaining permission from railway authorities.
They said that the yard, if constructed, would affect the hub鈥檚 design.
The DMTCL officials, on the other hand, claimed that the yard was important for the smooth operation of mass transit line 6 that would touch Kamalapur.
They said that a decision regarding the yard was still pending.
DMTCL which operates metro rail in the capital is under the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, while Bangladesh Railway is under the Ministry of Railways.
In 2013, the government formulated the National Integrated Multimodal Transport Policy aiming at developing the country鈥檚 transport sector by emphasising railways, waterways, and airways along with roads.
Kajima Corporation, a Japanese company, is now working at the planning stage of the Kamalapur Multimodal Transport Hub Project, a public-private partnership initiative, under the Japan-Bangladesh government-to-government venture to convert the station into a transport hub to provide maximum comfort and convenience to users.
The project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in October 2018. A memorandum of cooperation was signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Japan in June 2017 in this connection.
Meanwhile, the services of the country鈥檚 first-ever electricity-powered elevated聽 and air-conditioned rail system, MRT line 6, are now running on the 20.1-kilometre-long Uttara鈥揗otijheel section.
Following an extension of another 1.16-kilometre, the services are scheduled to run up to Kamalapur from December 2025.
In 2020, Bangladesh Railway authorities opposed the design of the extended route of the MRT line-6 as they feared that the extended part would affect the design of the multimodal transport hub.
On November 24, 2020, the railway authorities reached a consensus with the DMTCL that the Kamalapur railway station would be relocated by demolishing its iconic architecture to make way for metro rail.
The relocation proposal, tabled by Kajima Corporation, was approved by the then Prime Minister鈥檚 Office on December 14, 2020.
In February this year, railway authorities informed the railways ministry that DMTCL was conducting a survey for building a 300-meter yard at Kamalapur without permission from Bangladesh Railway.
The Kamalapur Multimodal Transport Hub project director Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman said that the yard for the metro rail was not necessary.
DMTCL was not given any approval to conduct any survey or begin any kind of work for their yard on Bangladesh Railway鈥檚 land.
He said that they had discussed with the consultants of DMTCL.
He said that Kajima Corporation vehemently opposed the plan of constructing the proposed yard as it would affect the hub project.
Al Fattah said that they had given DMTCL letters saying that they had no scope to give them space for the yard.
鈥楽till, they are holding meetings to get the space,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥極n September 4, at an inter-ministerial meeting at the road transport and bridges ministry, we protested against the DMTCL plan to construct the yard.鈥�
The inter-ministerial meeting decided that technical officials would discuss the plan for building the yard at Kamlapur and the interim government鈥檚 adviser Muhammad Fauzul Kabir Khan, who oversees both the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, would take the final decision.
DMTCL managing director Mohammad Abdur Rouf told 抖阴精品 on Tuesday that they sought permission from the railway but were yet to get any reply.
He said that the yard would be built for a smooth operation to keep at least two trains at night and build a scissors crossing for changing tracks.
The yard is necessary for people and technical reasons, he said.聽
鈥榃e are awaiting a positive decision over the yard,鈥� he added.
The Revised Strategic Transport Plan 2015 proposed 21 multimodal and interchange stations in the districts of Dhaka, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Mankganj, Gazipur and Narsingdi.
As per the plan, there will be underground stations for mass rapid transit lines 1, 2 and 4, and the elevated station of the MRT line 6, said officials.
For the multimodal transport hub, Kajima Corporation has so far developed a pre-master plan.