The Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), a state-owned company, is yet to prepare and submit any financial statement to the authorities concerned since its inception nearly a decade ago in 2013, sources said.
They said the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) requested the company on several occasions to provide it with such statements, but received hardly any response so far.
The RTHD asked for the statement to be acquainted with the expenditure made so far from the paid up capital invested by the government through the Ministry of Finance and the RTHD, said an official.
"This is to ensure accountability and transparency of the DMTCL's activities," he added.
Officials at the DMTCL, however, said they had only informed the RTHD secretary verbally about the development work being carried out under the company, and that the company prepared no financial statement so far as it is yet to be fully functional.
However, the company has been holding its annual general meetings (AGMs) since 2014, sharing only the information on work-in-progress of the metro rail project and annual performance.
The DMTCL has so far received Tk 1.5 billion from the government - Tk 500 million in 2019 and Tk 1.0 billion just before starting partial operation of the metro service from Uttara to Agargaon on December 29 last year.
Initially, the DMTCL's activities were centered on holding board meetings as the 11-member board is responsible for approving all activities of the company, including bidders to carry out metro rail development work.
From 2018, the company started recruiting its staff - now around 250 - with a handsome salary structure, three to four times higher compared to the government pay structure.
"The company is now earning from MRT 6 - whatever may be the amount - by operating partially. Soon it is expected to start revenue generation from the advertisements and business establishments at different stations," said an official at the RTHD.
"So transparency must be maintained without any delay; as its income is likely to increase, so is its operational cost."
He said that as four more metro rail services or Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) lines are at their implementation stages, the RTHD must know the financial status on a regular basis.
The DMTCL has been formed with the responsibilities of carrying out all related activities in the planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of MRT lines - according to the revised strategic transport plan, a network of six metro rails has been planned to be developed by 2030.
DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique after a monthly press briefing told the FE that the company has been using the revolving fund of Tk 1.5 billion. However, he said they are yet to prepare any statement as they lack required information on operational costs.
In a recent briefing, the MD told reporters that the company had reached breakeven point as both earning and spending from the MRT-6 operation was the same at Tk 0.733 million.
In response to a phone call, company secretary Mohammad Abdur Rouf said that the company has been following the government's guidelines.
Though the MRT-6 has been operating for the last five months, the DMTCL is yet to get data on its operational costs and earnings from ticketing systems - MRT Pass or Rapid Pass - and, due to a lack of integration, the statement cannot be prepared. He further said the company has been working to prepare a statement after the end of this fiscal year.
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