Metro Rail company fined Tk 3.5m for loan payment delay

The Finance Division has fined Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), the government-owned company responsible for operating Dhaka Metro Rail, Tk 3.5 million for delay in making payment of loan instalment, officials said.
To build the MRT Line-6, the country's first overhead rail system which came into operation in December last year, the company had signed a subsidiary loan agreement with the Finance Division in May 2013.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has extended loan to the government of Bangladesh for construction of the Metro Rail from where the finance division provided loan to DMTCL for MRT Line-6.
The company was scheduled to make payment of first instalment of the loan by May 21 this year.
However, officials at the Road Transport and Highways Division said the DMTCL deposited Tk 552.97 million through treasury chalan to the government exchequer on June 2023, three weeks after the schedule.
After the delay, the Finance Division asked the DMTCL to deposit Tk 3.5 million to the exchequer as interest against late payment.
Officials said the DMTCL in a recent letter to the Road Transport and Highways Division requested to solicit the Finance Division to waive the fine.
Afterwards the Road Transport and Highways Division last week requested the Finance Division to grant waiver to the DMTCL.
A senior DMTCL official said the loan for MRT Line-6 was the fist subsidiary loan agreement between the DMTCL and the Finance Division.
He said the delay in depositing loan instalment occurred due to holding some formalities and "it happened unwillingly".
"We have pledged to the finance division that such delay will not be made any more in the future," the official said. Contacted, a Finance Division official said the borrowers should follow the repayment schedule to avoid being fined.
He added the high-ups concerned are now checking the provisions whether such requests can be granted or not.

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