Utility Shifting for MRT-1 Completed Along Norda–Airport Route

The relocation of utility lines for the country's first underground metro rail - the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line-1 from Norda to Airport station has been completed, while road repair work is progressing fast, MRT Line-1 Project Director Abul Kashem Bhuiyan told BSS here today.

“Repair work of road from Norda to Airport station is going on under Contract Package (CP) 5 and 6 of the MRT Line-1,” he added.

He said the government is constructing MRT Line-1 project aiming to reduce traffic congestion in Dhaka and surrounding areas while promoting environmental conservation through a state-of-the-art public transport system.

According to the project, authorities will carry out relocation work of utility lines from Norda to Kamalapur station via Natun Bazar station round the clock to avoid traffic congestion for city dwellers. 

It said the MRT Line-1 having a total of 19.872-kilometer underground consisting airport route with 12 underground stations while 11.369-kilometer elevated from Notun Bazar to Pitalganj Depot of Purbachal route with seven elevated and two underground stations is being implemented through a total of 12 packages. 

The package-wise implementation progress is as follows:  Under CP-01, the contractor began work on March 1, 2023 for the development of the MRT Line-1 depot on 35.90 hectares or 88.71 acres of land in Pitalganj Mouza of Rupganj Upazila of Narayanganj District, which is almost completed as realistic progress stood at 99 percent and the financial progress rose to 98 percent, it said. 

The project details said of the packages, the authorities sent draft contract documents of CP-2 and CP-5 to the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) for approval. 

The pre-contract negotiation process of CP-02 was completed, while on April 10, 2025, the proposal for signing the contract was sent to the DMTCL headquarters for approval.

The tender for CP-03 has been opened on March 25, 2025, while non-submission of any pre-qualified bidder, the re-tendering process is underway. The financial proposal of the tender for CP-04 was opened on February 27, 2025, while the evaluation of the financial proposal is currently underway.

The pre-contract negotiation process for CP-05 has been completed. The draft contract document was sent to Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on March 13, 2025 for getting no objection.

Apart from this, the purchase proposal for signing the contract for CP-05 is awaiting for approval of the Board of Directors of the company. The financial proposal evaluation report for the tender for CP-06 was received from JICA on February 13, 2025. Currently, pre-contract negotiation is underway with the 1st lowest bidder.

Tenders documents for CP-07 were opened on 27 February 2025 and the evaluation of the technical proposals of the tenders is currently underway, while tender documents for CP-08 were opened on April 17, 2025 and the evaluation of the technical proposals of the tenders is currently underway. 

Tender documents for CP-09 were opened on December 23, 2024. The technical proposal evaluation report of the tender was sent to JICA for concurrence on March 2, 2025. Tenders for CP-10 were opened on December 9, 2024. The technical proposal evaluation report of the tender has been sent to JICA for concurrence on March 19, 2025. 

Tenders for CP-11 have been invited on January 9, 2025 and the last date for submission of tenders has been fixed as June 17, 2025. Tenders for CP-12 have been invited on February 19, 2025 and the date of opening of tenders has been fixed as July 21, 2025.

The Line-1 having two parts - the Airport Route and the Purbachal Route is being constructed with 12 packages, as the construction work of both the route began on February 2, 2023, the project director said.

He said Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) has been implementing the entire MRT Line-1 at a cost of Tk. 53,977 crore while the JICA is providing Tk. 39,450 crore as project assistance and the Bangladesh government is giving Tk. 14,527 crore.

Experts said 13.66 lakh people can move by this metro rail per day which is about 2.83 times higher than the existing MRT Line-6.

They said the government is moving forward with the mega plan to build a 140-kilometer metro rail network in Dhaka and its adjacent areas by 2030 to reduce traffic congestion.

Once the planned network consisting of six lines comes into reality, 50 lakh people will be able to use the facilities as the lines will cover 129 kilometres area of the city - about 68 km elevated and about 61km underground - having more than 100 stations.