The demolition of iconic Kamalapur Rail Station building has been under discussion on request from the Japanese developer of a multi-modal transport hub on the site.
Sources confirmed that the issue of demolishing is not for giving space to metro rail station. The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) also claimed the same.
Kajima Corporation sought to develop similar building on southern side by demolishing the existing building so that other planned structures of the public-private partnership (PPP) project get attractive.
Officials of the Bangladesh Railway (BR) and the Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) said the issue was discussed in different meetings, including the one at the Prime Minister's Office in December.
But the decision on demolition is not taken yet, they added.
Criticism arose after the announcement of demolishing the rail station by railways minister Mohammad Nurul Islam Sujon on November 24.
He told the journalists after a meeting with Kajima and the DMTCL that the BR may demolish the historic building to accommodate space for the mass rapid transit (MRT) line-06.
The December 14 meeting with the PMO principal secretary in the chair, however, directed the DMTCL to develop MRT-06 station further on northern side and its crossing over line.
On Thursday, DMTCL managing director MAN Siddique said MRT station has been designed outside Kamalapur station area and the right side of the rail building as per the BR guideline.
"There is no scope for blocking the Kamalapur station building. It (demolition) is not for MRT station and not for its crossing over line," he told the media.
Deputy project director Mohammad Abdul Baquee also said that both the MRT station and crossing for shifting train lines are distant from the Kamalapur station.
"There is a 30-metre gap from the two buildings. Even the MRT station did not touch the CNG parking space of the station area."
A PPPA official said the PMO meeting directed to continue discussion with Kajima for an alternative but added that the demolition decision would come from the prime minister.
"There is still option… If there is no alternative, a summary will be readied for the prime minister's decision," he said wishing anonymity.
Japanese land infrastructure and tourism ministry recommended Kajima as the potential investor for the billion-dollar Kamalapur multi-modal project during the Bangladesh-Japan Joint platform meeting in 2018.
The BR accepted the conceptual design of the transport hub in 2019 in which the company made reservations on the entry of any transport system from the front side of the station to make it attractive.
But the DMTCL later pressed for accommodating different MRT lines, including the MRT-06 one, in the rail station area from front side.
The MRT line-06 has been build from Uttara to Motijheel which is now being programmed for extension up to Kamalapur station.
A BR official, who also preferred not to be named, told the FE that discussion is still on to find an alternative keeping the historic building intact.
The BR is interested in restoring the dignity of the Kamalapur building and trying to accommodate it with the design during talks with the investor, he said.
However, the rail authorities are now studying the economic life of the rail building.
Robert Boughey and Daniel Durnham of Luis Berger and Consulting Engineers Ltd built the iconic structure during 1961-68 as a symbolic gateway to the city with the dome-umbrella design.
smunima@yahoo.com