The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Communications Ministry Monday approved Strategic Transport Plan for installing an underground railway system in the capital for ending a nagging traffic congestion in the city.

The Ministry will send the plan to the council of advisers of the caretaker government within next seven days for finial approval.

Speaking to reporters at his office at the secretariat, newly appointed Communications Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Ghulam Quader said the Ministry would send the proposal to the Cabinet soon for final approval.

He informed that implementation of the Strategic Transport Plan would take two years and cost Tk 500 crore.

General Quader, however, informed that it needs 10-12 years to complete the full subway project. "Donors and development partners, including the World Bank, have assured us fulfilling our requirement. So money won't be a problem in implementing the project," he said.

The Communications Advisor, however, said that to build a subway in an overcrowded city like Dhaka would not be very easy, as such a construction will require stoppage of traffic for a long time. And for this, the Ministry will formulate a new law for controlling vehicles.

Quader expressed his disappointments over the BRTC activities during the previous government's tenure, saying that the government is planning to reorganize the state-owned Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation.

The Advisor said rail crossing at several places in Dhaka City causes heavy traffic jams and the Ministry is also thinking about a way out to reduce the jam and ease transportation for the city-dwellers.

Contech Limited, a local firm, earlier had submitted the lowest bid in a tender called by Bangladesh Railway for constructing underground railway in Dhaka.

In the proposal, the firm proposed to build a total of 52 kilometres of subway in the city by spending some Tk 5,200 crore.