2nd phase study on metro rail in place to discover newer possibilities
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Munima Sultana
The second phase of the feasibility study on a metro rail has begun with a view to finding out further possibilities of introducing the first such rail facility between the city's northern and southern parts.
The first phase of the study was completed in February under a project titled Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study (DHUTS), which identified the 16-kilometre corridor between Pallabi and Sayebad as being suitable for establishing the metro rail.
Officials said the Japanese team which worked for the first-phase study would also carry out the second-phase one.
The study is expected to finish by the end of this year, they added.
"We have found that the mass rapid transit can be established from Pallabi to Sayedabad during the first-phase study. We will now be sure of that possibility by doing the second-phase study," the Japanese team leader Toshio Kimura told the FE.
He said they will now work to find in detail on engineering, financial, social and environmental impacts and different implementation stages of the proposed route.
The first-phase study found that traffic between the two parts of the city is higher than the other parts and construction of the country's first mass rapid transit (MRT) is possible through elevated and underground ways.
Though the study team proposed linking Uttara with Pallabi through an underground link, they, however, will not carry out the feasibility study upto Uttara due to not getting the detailed plan of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha, which has been expanding the city to the northern zone.
The study funded by Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA) was conducted based on the proposed three MRT routes in the 20-year-long transport guideline, the strategic transport plan (STP). But the study suggested the government take up another option of STP to establish metro rail between Uttara and Sayedabad via Mohakhali.
As the government has already introduced Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Uttara through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and planned to construct elevated expressway on the same route, the study team suggested relaxing the MRT option between Uttara-Sayedabad route to avoid conflicts.
The second phase of the feasibility study on a metro rail has begun with a view to finding out further possibilities of introducing the first such rail facility between the city's northern and southern parts.
The first phase of the study was completed in February under a project titled Dhaka Urban Transport Network Development Study (DHUTS), which identified the 16-kilometre corridor between Pallabi and Sayebad as being suitable for establishing the metro rail.
Officials said the Japanese team which worked for the first-phase study would also carry out the second-phase one.
The study is expected to finish by the end of this year, they added.
"We have found that the mass rapid transit can be established from Pallabi to Sayedabad during the first-phase study. We will now be sure of that possibility by doing the second-phase study," the Japanese team leader Toshio Kimura told the FE.
He said they will now work to find in detail on engineering, financial, social and environmental impacts and different implementation stages of the proposed route.
The first-phase study found that traffic between the two parts of the city is higher than the other parts and construction of the country's first mass rapid transit (MRT) is possible through elevated and underground ways.
Though the study team proposed linking Uttara with Pallabi through an underground link, they, however, will not carry out the feasibility study upto Uttara due to not getting the detailed plan of the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha, which has been expanding the city to the northern zone.
The study funded by Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA) was conducted based on the proposed three MRT routes in the 20-year-long transport guideline, the strategic transport plan (STP). But the study suggested the government take up another option of STP to establish metro rail between Uttara and Sayedabad via Mohakhali.
As the government has already introduced Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Uttara through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and planned to construct elevated expressway on the same route, the study team suggested relaxing the MRT option between Uttara-Sayedabad route to avoid conflicts.