The taskforce for monitoring fast-track projects has decided to make a recommendation to the effect that the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakhha (Rajuk) makes its 40 acres of land available for a metro-rail project considering its importance in mass transportation.
The recommendation of the taskforce would be sent to the fast-track project monitoring committee headed by the Prime Minister for a final decision, sources said.
Officials said the taskforce in the meeting on March 6 last took the decision, as the Rajuk was repeatedly refusing to make the land available for the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)-6 project.
The Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) had long been requesting the Rajuk for 54 acres of land at the end of the Uttara Third Phase Project area, as the consultant of the project found the land suitable for a depot under the project.
However, the Rajuk handed over only 14 acres of land for the MRT project and kept the rest on the ground that it was planned to set up a kitchen market, a commercial plot and a parking zone on the land, as necessary for hundreds of thousands of plot owners under the Uttara 3rd phase project.
However, the delay in getting the land has also stalled the work on project design.
Sources said the taskforce was informed that there would not be any problem with going ahead with a plan to use the land for other purposes alongside the Rajuk plan.
"As the MRT depot has been proposed to be set up at an elevated level, there is a scope for using the land for other purposes also," said a meeting source. He said the design consultant, already appointed to come up with a detailed design of the MRT-6, was directed to plan the depot by following a multistoried and multipurpose model.
Since the government planned to construct the MRT-6 line after a study that found the Uttara-Motijheel corridor feasible in 2011, the project has been facing different difficulties.
Initially the consultant found it feasible to build the depot at Pallabi, but later it had to shift the focus to the Uttara 3rd phase project area due to non-availability of the land at Pallabi from the Bangladesh Army.
At that time the Rajuk was cooperative to hand over the land at its Uttara site for the project. But it started dillydallying later and finally asked the project authority to acquire land for the depot beyond the Uttara 3rd phase project area.
However, sources alleged that the Rajuk refused to hand over the land, as it is a lucrative part of the Uttara 3rd phase project.
According to the Rajuk plan, the 54 acres of land have been set aside for setting up a commercial plot, a kitchen market, a bus terminal, an underground train and car parking and a petrol pump.
DTCA sources said the ministry of communication wrote to the Rajuk through the ministry of public works at the end of February last requesting for the rest of the land.
But the Rajuk chairman as usual refused, saying that they already started handing over residential plots of the Uttara 3rd phase project and for that reason it would not be possible for them to hand over the remaining land.
The FE tried to reach the Rajuk chairman over cell phone several times, even sent a message for his comment, but got no response.
After the January 5 election the present government formed the fast-track project monitoring committee headed by the Prime Minister to implement six priority projects including the Padma bridge and the MRT.
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