DMTCL plans independent safety audit, O&M review

The Dhaka metro-rail company plans to conduct an independent safety audit, as well as an operation and maintenance (O&M) review, following several accidents and issues in services.
Disclosing this at a press conference on Monday, Managing Director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Faruque Ahmed blamed the consultant, contractors, and previous DMTCL management for the current situation.
"The entire process of taking over the work from contractors by the consultant and handing it over to DMTCL was not done properly before the commissioning of MRT-6," he said.
DMTCL organised the briefing at its conference room in the capital in the wake of the October 25 accident, which happened when a bearing pad fell on a pedestrian near the Farmgate station, leaving him dead.
Senior officials of the company were present at the briefing.
Faruque said a government-formed committee was investigating the cause of the accident, while DMTCL had conducted its own review of the entire corridor and found issues of concern.
Design fault might be a cause, he added.
Replying to a question about lack of maintenance, he said the process does not mean inspecting each and every item of the 21km corridor every day.
"One hundred years of structural guarantee and a 50-year life cycle of bearing pads do not tell this," he said, adding that periodical maintenance is done for the corridor's functionality.
The managing director further said DMTCL had received two unsolicited proposals from international companies but decided to invite tenders in this regard.
MRT-6 was commissioned without a safety audit due to a lack of such an agency in the country, Faruque said, adding that the Government Inspector of Bangladesh Railway does this in the railways.
He also talked about the development of other MRTs and steps taken to review the designs of all MRTs to fix the flaws identified in MRT-6 and ensure safety at all stages.
"Public safety is the first priority for us now," he told journalists. He also said now the main focus of all negotiations with financiers, consultants, and contractors is on training the DMTCL staff as there is a lack of skills at all levels.
Faruque, an engineer with experience of working in MRTs in Australia, Hong Kong, and India, joined DMTCL after the interim government cancelled the appointment of MAN Siddique, a retired secretary, as the managing director.
He said DMTCL had undergone various reforms as it was formed ignoring important issues like technical workforce, adequate trial runs before the commercial opening of MRT-6, maintenance equipment, etc.

smunima@yahoo.com