Dhaka metrorail project will be complete by 2022, says JICA

The metrorail project in Dhaka will be complete by 2022, according to Japan International Cooperation Agency or JICA that is financing a major portion of the project.

All the projects under the Mass Rapid Transit or MRT programme for overhauling Dhaka’s public transport system will end by 2028, according to Japan’s foreign aid agency.

A JICA delegation of three led by its Chief Representative in Bangladesh Hitoshi Hirata revealed the information to Planning Minister MA Mannan during a meeting in the capital on Monday.

Briefing the media later, the planning minister said: “I wanted to know about MRT 6 from the JICA representative. He told me that the metrorail project under MRT 6 will end by 2022 and the last MRT project will be completed by 2022.”

MA Mannan.

Hitoshi Hirata

Among the six projects under MRT, the metrorail has progressed most. It will link the capital’s Uttara and Motijheel via Mirpur.

Initially, it had been estimated that the project would be completed by 2024. Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader had later said the deadline for completing the project has been brought forward following Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s orders.

Government officials expect to launch train services from Uttara to Agargaon, the first phase of the metrorail project, by the end of this year.

The second phase, from Agargaon to Motijheel, will be completed by 2020, Quader said in October last year.

The planning minister said the Japan-funded projects suffered some damage due to the killings of Japanese nationals working in the metrorail project along with other foreigners in the Holey Artisan cafe terrorist attack in 2016.

“I asked them (JICA officials) if they see any security problem now. They said there is no problem now. They are satisfied with current security situation,” the minister said.