Metro rail sans feasibility study may cause loss of money, delay: JICA

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FE Report
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tuesday cautioned the government about developing metro rail without any feasibility study as well as proper legal and organisational framework, saying it may cause loss of money and delay in implementation.
JICA chief representative Takao Toda cited examples of Indonesia, the Philippines and Bangkok where metro rail or MRT (mass rapid transit) system failed to attract enough passengers, and said the government must be very careful in implementing MRT to avoid such hazards.
The JICA chief representative said these during a seminar on urban and transport development in Dhaka, organised to share the findings of an interim study of JICA on MRT.
He said urban transportation problems cannot be solved only through improving MRT, it is also necessary to introduce the highest passenger carrying service as soon as possible to meet the traffic demand of the city and ensure accessibility of people in the new settlement areas.
The JICA concern came as the government has already approved in principle to start bidding process for MRT/metro rail without completing its feasibility study, saying that it would be completed by the bidding winner at their own cost. The government also cited avoiding cost and lack of time as the reasons for not carrying out the feasibility study.
During the seminar, the study highlighted the MRT route from Pallabi to Sayedabad, mentioned in the Strategic Transport Plan (STP), as feasible for work, considering the traffic load between the northern and southern parts of the city. However, the study proposed Uttara as the first station of the route instead of Pallabi due to expansion of the city towards Uttara Model Town phase-3.