Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) has provided 22 hectares of land in Uttara Phase III, for construction of a metro rail depot, said a source at the agency.
The Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB), which had carried out negotiations with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), on the metro rail project, was given the land on an emergency basis, the source added. DTCB had to finalise all documents related to the metro project and submit them to JICA, which had set a deadline of September 30, for all design requirements, including the finalised site of the metro rail depot, the source said. The land was given to DTCB, at Sector 15 and Sector 16 of Uttara Phase III, added the source.
Talking with The Independent, executive director of DTCB, Dr SM Salahuddin, said that the agency had finalised the designs for the metro rail project and then submitted them to JICA. “Today, we have sent JICA the documents and design for the possible depot of metro rail route in Uttara”, he said.
The site for the metro rail depot had previously been selected at the Pallabi area of the capital, Salahuddin said. “As the army objected to the construction of the metro depot in Pallabi, on grounds of possible security threat to the Mirpur Cantonment, we planned to move the site further north”, he said.
When asked if JICA would disburse the USD 1.7 billion soft loan for the metro rail project, by the end of this year, Dr Salahuddin only said that DTCB has done its part.
“JICA asked us for the finalised route and the confirmation for the site of the depot, and we have already submitted the required documents to them. A JICA technical team will come on an appraisal mission on October 15. They will make the final assessment”, he said.
In the final design that DTCB submitted to JICA on September 30, the route was redrawn, to save Parliament land, Dr Salahuddin added.
“We went through all the details and ensured that the 55-metre garden on the eastern side of the Parliament complex won’t need to be razed. Earlier, we thought some pillars would have to be erected on the land on the eastern side of the Sangsad Bhaban complex, as the metro rail required adequate turning radius. However, we later revised the design and figured out that we needed to construct only two pillars on the pavement outside the complex”, he added.
Communication minister Syed Abul Hossain told The Independent over phone that whether JICA will disburse the USD 1.7 billion loan by next year, depends on the evaluation by JICA’s appraisal mission.
“As per the directive of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, we’ve finalised all necessary documents and submitted them to JICA, within the deadline. Now, it’s up to JICA”, the minister signed off, adding that he was hopeful that the government would be able to start the metro rail project by January 2012.
-With The Independent input
