We’ll go to PM office by MRT, Japan Ambassador in Bangladesh says

The Japanese Ambassador in Dhaka, Masato Watanabe, says he and the JICA chief in Bangladesh will prefer MRT to cars to go to the Prime Minister’s Office once the project is done.

“We will surely go to the Prime Minister’s Office by MRT,” he said at the inauguration of the construction works of MRT, mass rapid transit, in Dhaka on Sunday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction of the MRT Line-6, which is an elevated Metro Rail system from Uttara to Motijheel’s Shapla intersection.

She also inaugurated the work of another line, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Gazipur to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

The projects will be implemented under a fast track priority initiative.

Japan is the main donor for the projects. The ambassador noted that it was a “flagship project symbolizing the bilateral cooperation between Japan and Bangladesh.”

“A safe and reliable MRT in Dhaka would definitely add further impetus to the Bangladesh economy,” he said. It was his expectation that these MRT and BRT projects would be “an important step” toward achieving Vision 2021, the year when Bangladesh aims at transforming itself into a middle-income country.

“When the entire portion of the MRT Line-6 in Dhaka opens, the line will accommodate passenger demand of around 500 thousand people every day,” the ambassador said.

“The Metro Rail will undertake safe, rapid and eco-friendly movement of people and goods.”

“By then, I can assure you, the Japanese ambassador and the JICA chief representative will choose MRT, in place of their Toyota, Nissan or Honda cars, to rush to a meeting summoned at the Prime Minister’s Office,” he said.