Metro Rail: A Great Millstone in Public Transport

 

Metro rail was a long-term dream of the people of Dhaka city, after a long time their dream is going to be true. Dhaka Metropolitan Area (DMA) is one of the world's large cities with a population of 21 million and it's one of the most densely populated areas in the world with a density of 47,400 people per square kilometer within a total area of 300 square kilometers.

Day by day the population of Dhaka city is increasing as well as problems also raising, for that reason Dhaka is losing itsbeauty. Among the problems, traffic congestion is one of the biggest problemsthat make city dwellers' life hell. People living in Dhaka city are wasting much of their valuable time by sitting idly in vehicles. Thousands of working hours are wasted every day in Dhaka city, people can't reach their workplace on time and lots of resources are wasted due to traffic jams.

Traffic congestion badly impacts our economic sector and it's a great barrier tothe development of a country.A country can't move forward easily without improvingits communication system.Developing an integrated transport system is essential for the social economic development of a country and a good transport system makes people's life easy. Although the government has taken various initiatives to mitigate traffic congestion, but it has not been effective. Recently the government has taken a mega project for reducing the traffic jam in Dhaka city. Dhaka metro rail project is an initiative of the current government of Bangladesh to mitigate the traffic jam inDhaka city. The official name of this project is "Mass Rapid Transit" (MRT).

Metro rail is one of the largest projects of the current government of Bangladesh and it is the long-term dream of residents of Dhaka. Metro rail is a rapid transit system that is widely used in many major cities of the world and it is also a modern system of transportation. In December 2012, the Executive Committee ofthe National Economic Council (ECNEC) approves the metro rail scheme.

The project is being carried out by the state-owned Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL). Thisproject is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), estimated cost of the total project is 20,000 crores, the Japanese government through JICA will provide TK 16,000 crores which are around 75 % of the total project cost of TK 22,000 crores as a loan at 0.01 % interest rate and the rest of project cost will have to manage by the Bangladesh government. The total length of the metro rail project will be 20.1 Km from Uttara to Motijil having 16 stops. According to the JICA, 24 trains with six cars each train operate every three minutes and it will be able to carry 60,000 passengers every hour from both sides.

Undoubtedly Metro rail will be a landmark for Bangladesh and metro rail will greatly affect the transportation sector of Bangladesh. After finishing the project People can reach Uttara to motijhel within 40 minutes while the bus ride from Uttara to motijhel takes more than three to four hours. It will significantly reduce travel time and it will also reduce numberers of an accidents on road. People will be able to travel very comfortably by the metro rail even while standing. With the metro rail, it would be possible to save a huge amount of productive time for the city people. Metro rail will not only reduce the traffic jam in Dhaka city it also enhances the beauty of Dhaka.

Metro rail will not only improve our transportation system but also it will improve our economic sector as well. After completing the metro rail project, a huge number of employment opportunities will be created for the unemployed people which greatly impact ourcountry's economy.

This project will save TK 200 billion per year which is equivalent to 1.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 17% of the total tax revenue another advantage of metro rail is that mass rapid transit is also eco-friendly it cannotpollute the environment like other vehicles such as bus, private car, etc. so it also possible to maintain a good communication system by protecting the environment.

Presently about 64% of the total project work has been done and around 90% of the first phase (from Uttara to Agargaon) has been already done. The progress of the second phase of construction work from Agargon to Motijhel is around 65% has been completed. Many workers and experts are working to complete the metro rail project on time but due to covid pandemic it could not possible but they are not stopped their work, 24 hours they are working for completing the project. Metro rail managing director MAN Siqqiqui talked about the project that if all goes well then metro rail will be able to start its commercial operation by 2022 and the long-term dream of the people of Dhaka city will come true.


Mohammad Al-Amin is a Student, Public Administration Comilla University