Slow lane to nowhere?

The Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company (Dhaka BRT), a state-owned company formed over a decade ago, appears to be stuck in the slow lane compared to its counterpart mass transit company that handles projects from planning to implementation.
For planning, executing, operating and managing a bus-based mass transit system in the capital, Dhaka BRT was established in 2013 after approval from the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms. However, the inception was just on paper thanks to a lack of funds or adequate initiative.
After seven years, the company appointed its first managing director in 2020. In 2022, eight years' worth of annual general meetings were held in a single session, following a court order.
All these years, Dhaka BRT's activity is limited to the procuring buses for the planned 20.1 km dedicated bus corridor -- which will move 10,000 commuters per hour within 20 minutes.
But the bus procurement process itself has stalled since its initiation two years ago, according to sources.
Besides, the progress of the BRT corridor construction, stretching from Gazipur to Dhaka airport, is crawling too. Physical work on this corridor began in 2016 but remains incomplete.
Unlike the Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), Dhaka BRT has no paid-up capital -- even with no mention of it in the memorandum of association. The company's authorised capital is listed at Tk 4.0 billion, according to sources.
"The company is now running under the BRT project, as all its expenditures come from the project budget," said a source, while talking to The Financial Express on condition of anonymity.
This source said while Dhaka BRT is supposed to implement the project -- similar to DMTCL's role in developing the city's Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) corridors -- it does not even fall under the control of the two BRT project implementation agencies.
Approved in 2012, the BRT project is being implemented under the Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project by three agencies: the Roads and Highways Department, the Bangladesh Bridge Authority and the Local Government Engineering Department.
The project's initial cost of Tk 20.38 billion has already been revised three times, reaching Tk 42.86 billion. The implementation deadline has also been extended several times, with the current target set for December 2024.
Dhaka BRT Company, formed as a special purpose company under the project, seems to be mirroring the project's delays and limitations.
Since the very beginning, the Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project has been dogged by numerous issues, such as faulty procurement processes, a lack of coordination between the three implementing agencies and poor planning.
Mohammad Muniruzzaman, managing director of the Dhaka BRT, said the company has requested its full authorised capital from the Finance Division via the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.
He hopes the company will be fully operational soon after the purchase of 137 buses.
The bus procurement process, which began two years ago, has yet to be finalised due to legal complications arising from the recent cancellation of the first tender.
"We have re-issued a tender on 19 April for the phased purchase of 137 buses to speed up operations," Mr Muniruzzaman told the FE.
However, unlike the DMTCL, which is currently delivering four out of six planned MRT lines in the city, the Dhaka BRT Company's function became more limited with the government shelving plans to develop other BRT corridors outlined in the 20-year strategic transport plan.
A feasibility study for a rapid bus corridor from Airport to Sadarghat was shelved due to waning government interest. However, another study for line 7 has begun.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has repeatedly described the Dhaka BRT project as a "problematic project" that the government is wrestling to manage.
Public suffering due to the slow implementation of the 20.1 km Gazipur-Dhaka airport corridor has intensified, given its importance as a link to the northern part of the country and various industrial zones. The recent completion of the elevated road by the Bangladesh Bridge Authority has offered some relief.
"The BRT project's main limitation is the lack of coordination, which a properly functioning company could help to address and step up the implementation process," said an official who has been involved with the project since its inception.

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