Metro Rail now faces Rajuk back-stabbing

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Munima Sultana The capital development authority, Rajdhani Unnayan Karthipakha (Rajuk), has backed off from a move to hand over land for the proposed Metro Rail, making the future of the mass transport project further uncertain and raising its cost substantially. Officials said Rajuk has reneged on its pledge to hand over at least 30 acres of land for the depot of the proposed $2.75 billion project in Uttara, meaning the project authorities must now have to acquire the tract from private owners. The sudden about-face has dealt a fresh blow to the Metro Rail project, which has already changed its alignment, route plans and depot location following opposition from the Bangladesh Army and the Air Force. "If RAJUK does not give land for the depot, project cost of the metro rail may rise by another billion dollars. We'll have no choice but to acquire necessary land and design an elevated depot," said an official, requesting anonymity. The official said during a number of inter-ministerial meetings on the project, RAJUK had agreed to give a piece of land from its Uttara Third Phase project for constructing the metro rail depot. But the RAJUK has suddenly changed its stand and asked the project authorities to set up an elevated depot and acquire necessary land from further north of Uttara, a posh residential district. Project officials said the latest setback would spike the cost of the metro rail project to around $3.75 billion, making it the country's costliest infrastructure -- a whopping $850 million more than the planned $2.90 billion Padma Bridge. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has done primary feasibility study of the rail, had estimated the cost at $1.7 billion in 2009 and raised it to $2.75 in 2011 due to price hike of construction materials. Officials said if the Dhaka Transport Coordination Board (DTCB) gives in to RAJUK conditions, it has to acquire at least 15 hectares of land from Uttara -- a very costly proposition given that the price of per decimal land in the area is estimated at Tk 5.0 million. The official said JICA has committed to lend 80 per cent of the project cost. However, since the government has to bear the cost involving land acquisition, any additional cost on account of that would only add to its financial burden. He said the main objective of the JICA funding was to acquire minimum land to avoid legal complications and keep a tab on cost, which are important to make the mass transport project financially viable. RAJUK officials defended their latest decision saying its Uttara Third Phase model town project has set aside only eight acres of land for a bus terminal and a mono rail, which can not meet even half of the depot requirement. They said the model town has also earmarked seven acres of land for a kitchen market, but handing over the swathe to metro rail "will be a disaster" for the residential area, which is set to house 300,000 inhabitants within a few years. "If we make a plan and cut its arms or legs, it does it make any sense," said one RAJUK official. The metro rail has hobbled since a JICA team launched a primary feasibility study in 2009. Its experts have initially found the route from Pallabi to Saidabad most suitable for the rail, also called Mass Rapid Transit Line-6. As the alignment faced first obstruction due to construction of Gulistan-Jatrabari flyover, the study team conducted additional study and diverted the route up to Motijheel Commercial Area. The project then suffered twin major blows as the Army opposed setting up the depot in about 40 acres of land inside the Dhaka Cantonment and the Air Force objected to aligning the elevated rail route near its base adjacent to Bijoy Sarani. Both the issues are up on the table of the prime minister who, however, gave her consent to the Air force's advice to divert the route through Khamarbari, taking a portion of Louise Kahn's architectural masterpiece Jaitya Sangsad Bhaban.