Another two metro rail stations are going to be opened for passenger movement from Friday.
At the same time, metrorail operation hours have been extended by another two hours.
Meanwhile, the performance test from Agargaon to Motijheel will be started from July this year.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director MAN Siddique said this during a press meet at his office in the capital on Thursday.
He said, “Considering the passenger demand, metro rail will be operated for another two hours each day. Metrorail will be operated from 8 am to 2 pm from April 5. The performance test is starting with the target of operating metro rail from Uttara to Motijheel by December. Cable installation over the viaduct has been completed, and work on the power receiving substation is underway.”
According to the project sources, 90 percent of Bijay Sarani, 95 percent of Farmgate, 90 percent of Karwan Bazar Station, 90 percent of Shahbagh Station, 97 percent of Dhaka University Station, 90 percent of Secretariat Station, 90 percent of Motijheel Station have already been completed.
Meanwhile, Uttara Dakhin and Sheorapara stations will be brought under operation. With this, all the nine stations of the Uttara to Agargaon section of Metrorail will come under operation.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Manager (Civil) Mahfuzur Rahman confirmed this information to the media.
He said, “The two stations will be operational from Friday. We are going to open all the stations on the 11.73 km route from Agargaon to Uttara in phases as per our plan. The next plan is to run metro rail from Agargaon to Motijheel and Kamalapur route.”
The 21 km long metro rail from Uttara to Kamalapur in Dhaka is known as MRT Line-6.
The government took up this project in 2012. The first part of this road from Uttara to Agargaon was launched on December 28, but the second part from Agargaon to Motijheel is planned to be launched by the end of 2023. And the extension from Motijheel to Kamalapur railway station may be commissioned in 2025.
The original cost of the MRT Line-6 project was Tk 21985 crore. Later, due to the addition of an additional section from Motijheel to Kamalapur, the cost increased to Tk 11496.92 crore. Then the total cost stood at Tk 33472 crore.
