Govt drops metro rail from PPP as Japan shows funding interest

---

Munima Sultana
The government has dropped the proposed metro rail in the capital from the list of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects after Japan hinted that it would bankroll the multi-billion dollar infrastructure, officials said Sunday.
The 20 kilometre metro rail project between Pallabi and Sayedabad was placed in the PPP list in October last year and the government had initiated a move to invite preliminary tender for the mass-transit underground railway system.
But the officials of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Sunday met communications minister Syed Abul Hossain on Sunday and expressed Tokyo's desire to help fund the project.
"We have temporarily stopped the process on the construction of metro rail project through PPP as Japan has shown keen interest to support the project," the minister told the FE after the meeting.
"Japan is our biggest bilateral donor and we are considering its financing proposal," the minister said.
He said process to invite pre-qualification bidding for the project, which may cost several billion dollars, would now be dropped and his ministry would now be waiting for a full-fledged financing proposal from Tokyo.
Officials said during the meeting, the JICA representatives have urged the government to speed up legal framework and institutional setup for establishing mass rapid system in the city.
Heads of government agencies including Dhaka Transport Coordination Board, Bangladesh Railway and the Economic Relations Division were present in the hour long meeting.
During the meeting, JICA has agreed to complete the feasibility study of the metro rail by the end of this year and start construction process immediately after the study.
Mayumi Endoh, senior representative of JICA, told the FE that Japan was keen to fund the metro rail - a rapid mass transport system unveiled by the government to ease the city's chronic traffic congestion.
"We are interested to support the project. JICA is trying to complete a feasibility study on metro rail by December following requests from the communications minister," she said,
The JICA has also urged the government to establish a mass rapid transit authority to take up the day to day jobs of constructing metro rails, she added.
The Japanese government has already given support to complete the first phase of the metro feasibility study and planed to begin second phase in April this year.