Editorial
Metro rail at long last!
Still a long way to go
After much trepidation and wrangling over proposed routes, Bangladesh and Japan formally signed a loan agreement on February 20 to build the much-awaited metro rail in the capital city. The total loan worth $792.82 million from Japan is for four major projects, of which metro rail is one. The most significant element of this deal is the fact that it is a soft loan that is payable over a 40-year term with a 10-year grace period before the first payment is due.
Bangladesh will be receiving in the current fiscal year $116.32 million for the metro rail project. This will help fund a detail design of the 20.1 km rail project. Needless to say this is good news for vehicle-choked Dhaka city residents. With links stretching from Uttara Third Phase to Motijheel and stoppages at important junctions like Pallabi, Mirpur-10, Khamarbari, Farmgate, Sonargaon Hotel, Shahbagh, Doel Chattar and Topkhana Road, the fast-paced rail service promises traffic and hassle-free transportation of bulk people in Dhaka.
What is important to note is that the completion timeframe for the project has been reduced from 26 to 10 years. The metro rail project is significant not only in helping ease traffic congestions as more and more people will avoid commuting to commercial areas using cars. It is estimated that a single line metro rail has the capacity to move 400,000 commuters from Uttara to Motijheel or vice-versa in a mere 36 minutes. Those are significant numbers by any standard. Given the timeline for project completion, Dhaka residents would undoubtedly have been better served had the loan negotiations for MRT not taken so many years. But the fact that it has finally gotten off the ground is certainly something to look forward to and we certainly appreciate Japan's wholehearted assistance in the matter.
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