Work on the country's first underground railway or subway is likely to begin in June with the highest importance to protecting the environment.
The country's first underground metro rail will run from the airport to Kamalapur, touching Kuril, Nadda and Badda.
The length of this section will be 19.87 kilometers. If all goes well, the construction of the depot will start next June, an official of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) said.
This time the project area will have special importance on the environment, he said adding that, Noise and air pollution will be prevented as much as possible and no fossil fuels will be used.
The construction work will start from Kamalapur, he mentioned.
According to DMTCL sources, the Dhaka Mass Transit Company is made up of six metro-rails as state-of-the-art public transport to reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka metropolis and surrounding areas and to improve the environment.
Under this, a total of 129.90 kilometers of metro rail will be constructed. Of these, elevate is 68.73 km and the underground is 61.17 km. There will be 105 stations on the long route. Of these, 52 are elevate and 53 are underground.
This is the first subway metrorail in Bangladesh. Its total length is 31.24 kilometers. It is divided into two parts. The two parts are Airport Route (from Airport to Kamalapur) and Purbachal Route (from Natunbazar to Pitalganj Depot).
The total length of the airport route is 19.87 km and the total number of subway stations is 12.
On the other hand, the total length of Purbachal route is 11.36 km. The whole part of the route is elevated and the total number of stations was 9. Natunbazar and Nadda stations will be constructed as part of the airport.
There will be interchange at Natunbazar station. This interchange can be used to travel from Airport Route to Purbachal Route and from Purbachal Route to Airport Route.
Detailed study survey and basic design of both the routes have been completed. Detailed design work is currently underway. The progress of preparation of all tender documents for construction work is 86 percent.
92.97 acres of land has been acquired in Pitalganj and Brahmankhali mouzas of Rupganj upazila of Narayanganj district for construction of MRT-1 depot and depot access corridor.
Mahbub-ul-Alam, Additional Project Director of MRT Route-1 (Civil, Transport Planning and Utility), said that the construction of the country's first subway will expect to start from Kamalapur in June this year.
“We will be able to start the excavation of the subway in January 2023, he said adding that, we have come a long way in this regard,” he said, adding, “All the work that needs to be done before the construction of the subway is in the final stages, he mentioned.
According to DMTCL, the progress of hiring consultants for construction work is 70 percent. On February 20, JICA agreed to the technical tender evaluation report of the depot land development package.
The progress of recruitment of contractors for depot land development is 80 percent.
Under the MRT-1 project, a total of 31.24 kilometers of metro rail will be constructed from the airport to Kamalapur and from Natunbazar to Purbachal.
The total cost of the project is estimated at Tk 52,561 crore. Of this, the Japanese government will provide 39,450 crore, the remaining 13,111 crore will come from government funds.
According to DMTCL, since Metrorail is fully electric, no fossil and liquid fuels will be used. As a result, there is no chance of air pollution. Metrorail will transport more passengers in a short period of time, so the use of small vehicles will be reduced in large numbers and the use of fossil and liquid fuels will be reduced.
This will significantly reduce air pollution. There will be Mass Spring System (MSS) under the railway track of Metrorail.
Construction Wilddie Rail will be used. There will be sound barrier walls on both sides of the viaduct of the flying metro-rail and the soil adjacent to the tunnel of the underground metro-rail will act as a sound barrier.
As a result, noise and vibration pollution levels in Metrorail will be well below the norm. It will not have any negative impact on the overall environmental pollution, even it will play a huge role in environmental development.
Mohammad Saiful Islam, Project Manager (Environment and Health Safety), said that the excavation of the first subway metro-rail will start suddenly.
We attach special importance to environmental issues. So that the locals do not suffer while doing excavation, dusting and construction work.
“We spoke with to the locals. We will have only one goal so that there is no air pollution. What is the current level of air pollution in Dhaka, what will be after the start of the project – we are drawing various analysis on the issues,” he mentioned.