Underground Metro/Subway System for Dhaka

[Tmac]

Let's use this thread to share news and opinions on the possiblity of an underground subway system in Dhaka.

[Tmac]

Underground train service likely in city

A 52-km underground train service could be introduced on six routes in the city at a cost of Tk 65.00 billion (6,500 crore), reports UNB.

A private organisation came up with the proposal at a meeting at the Communications Ministry on Wednesday.

The routes are Sayedabad - Gabtoli (17-km), Tongi Bridge - Mohakhali (13.5-km), Pallabi - Parliament (6.5-km), Shaymoli - Shahbagh (7-km), Sayedabad - Bangla Motor (6-km) and Gulistan - Sadarghat (2-km).

Communications Adviser MA Matin and Chief Engineer of Roads and Highways Department M Mahbubur Rahman were present in the meeting.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.co...&news_id=12527

[Tmac]

Metro rail work before power handover
Says adviser Matin

The caretaker government might start the construction work of metro rail or elevated expressway before it hands over power next year, the communications adviser said yesterday.

"We want to start the work as soon as possible. Hopefully we will start next year," Communication Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin said.

He was talking to the journalists following a presentation on proposed metro rail service in Dhaka city by Contech Ltd at the auditorium of communications ministry. The company was the lowest bidder in the international tender invited.

The government would decide about which one to be given priority, metro rail or elevated expressway, after conducting a study, the communications adviser said adding that the Board of Investment (BOI) will conduct the study soon.

Following the BOI study, an international tender will be floated again and the work order will be given to the lowest bidder, Matin said. The BOI would finish their study within December, he added.

In their presentation, the Contech Ltd said that the soil of Dhaka city is suitable for constructing underground metro rail line. According to their plan, the metro rail would ply six routes in the city and the fares would range from Tk 5 to Tk 25. The project would take four and half years to complete.

Initially, the company would lay the underground tracks in very shallow depth; only 24 feet below the surface.

Experts from different departments concerned as well as from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) were present at the session.

Following the presentation, the experts observed that the design and planning should have provision for expansion of the metro railway service as the city is going to expand towards the east and south.

They were also for making a proper planning of traffic management while constructing the metro railway.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=5601

[meghnarmajhi]

Excellent idea - except that I don't see a lot of ways people can transfer from one service to the other. Some probably are not even necessary - e.g. Sayedabad - Gabtoli service can make stoppages at Shahbagh and Shyamoli and even Bangla Motor. Hard to tell before we see a map.

[Tmac]

what got my attention is this - "The project would take four and half years to complete."...........really????

[mirzazeehan]

I really hope they start work on that elevated expressway before power,cause once you start construction on such main roads,it is bound to get completed fast.

[snoq]

Even during the tenure of last govt underground subway/train system was first seriously considered but there was no in depth feasibility study done for the project. Dhaka with overwhelming transport system this type of gigantic construction bound to cause additional stress on movement. What about cost analysis, optimum construction method given water table and underground condition. How to power such enormous systems, do we have enough power generation capacity and fuel to support such system?
There are serious issues to be considered and analyzed before we can move forward on this project.

Knowing communication Adviser Maj Gen (retd) Matin, he must have sold on company glossy and animated presentation (among other things). Otherwise no one in the world could start such metro project before end of last year. Tmac you are right - four and half year completion time is just irrational exuberance at it best.

I would be delighted to see Dhaka gets its metro system but govt needs to take practical, measured and timely decision not a hasty one.

[clearsky]

http://www.amadershomoy.com/news.php?id=203185&sys=1

Summery:

Communication advisor Maj. Gen (Ret) Abdul Matin said that the govt. would approve the underground subway project soon. The project was initiated in 2003 by then govt. but has yet to be approved. The 6 thousand crore project has gone through several phases of the approval process but has yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel. After taking over responsibility on 1/11 the present govt. made its priority to clear up traffic congestions in the Dhaka City. With this goal in mind the govt. would like to approve the strategic planning of the project by December this year with a view that the construction will begin before the govt. leaves office towards the end of next year.

BUET vice-chairman A MM Safi Uddin said that we should properly utilize underground before building over passes. This will ensure optimum usage of both under and over ground for the betterment of the city dwellers.

[tanzirian]

It will be great if this govt can get the ball rolling on this prior to handing over power. That would at least ameliorate much of the graft related delays and favoritism typically associated with large projects of this kind.

[Tmac]

Govt plans hi-tech transport system for capital

The government is discussing various transport-related investment proposals with the private sector to mitigate the transport problem in the capital, said communications adviser MA Matin on Sunday.

‘We will sit with our experts to discuss the proposals and will accept the most suitable one,’ said Matin after a presentation on the Elevated Mass Rail Transit System, also dubbed ‘monorail’, at his ministry’s conference room.

Transco Holdings, a United States-based infrastructure firm which got the contract for building a monorail system in the capital under the build-own-operate basis from the Awami League government, made the presentation with the intention of reviving the project.

According to the communications ministry, it is currently studying at least three large-scale transport-related infrastructure development projects — elevated expressway, underground railway and monorail — all of which were conceived either by the Awami League or BNP-Jamaat government.

‘We will take a decision soon, as we have been instructed by the higher authorities to solve the transport problem of the city,’ said communications secretary Mahbubur Rahman.

The communications ministry floated a tender in 1998 for construction of an Elevated Mass Rail Transit System on the build-own-operate basis.

Transco of USA participated in the bidding and was considered the first-ranking bidder, and it was accordingly invited to negotiate the terms of the tender and sign a memorandum of understanding.

Several meetings were held with a high-powered panel of experts, including engineers and representatives of the international lenders.

Eventually a MOU was signed for construction of a 51-kilometre monorail at a cost of $894 million. The line, running in different directions from Gulistan, was supposed to have a double track with 29 stations.

Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, chairman and chief executive officer of Universal Machinery and Equipment, Transco’s local agent, said a feasibility study should be carried out again to estimate the cost of the project as the original proposal was given in 2000, when the cost was much lower.

‘We need to have a feasibility study again as the prices of everything have gone up in the last seven years.’

http://www.newagebd.com/nat.html

[Tmac]

Government chooses underground railway for Dhaka city

The government has decided to get an underground railway network built by the private sector on a priority basis to solve the transport problem and mitigate traffic congestion in the capital.

The communications adviser, MA Matin, at a meeting on Sunday decided to award the contract for building the underground railway system to the most competitive bidder on ‘build own operate’ basis. The government opted for the metro (underground railway) out of the three transport projects it had been considering, said a statement of the communications ministry.

The ministry formed a 12-member committee on October 25, headed by the communications adviser, to decide which transport project should be adopted out the three proposed systems — metro railway, elevated expressway and monorail.

The meeting held a detailed discussion on the three projects and finally decided to go ahead with the metro system after considering various factors such as cost, speed, land use pattern, passenger carrying capacity, fare, fuel efficiency, safety and impact on the environment.

The meeting also assigned the Board of Investment to take up the project as it would be implemented through the private sector’s investment.

According to a comparative study of the three transport systems, the metro will carry around 90,000 passengers per hour while the elevated expressway will carry only 20,000 and monorail around 30,000 per hour at speeds of 120 km, 60 km and 70 km per hour respectively.

The construction of each kilometre of the underground railway track will cost around $60 to $100 million, while the cost of building the same length of the elevated expressway and monorail will be around $40 to $75 million and $50 to $120 million respectively.

The fare of metro will be the cheapest among the three modes of transport as it will charge between Tk 10 to 25 per passenger, depending on the distance, while the elevated expressway will charge Tk 100 to Tk 300 per vehicle and monorail will charge Tk 40 to 70 per passenger.

The communications ministry officials, however, said it would take at least 2 years to complete all the initial procedures such as conducting a feasibility study, preparing tender documents and selecting an eligible firm to begin the construction of the mega transport project.

The provision for constructing an underground railway was also included in the Strategic Transport Planning for Dhaka which is yet to be approved by the government.

The meeting said that the Tk 14 crore transport study would be sent to the council of advisers shortly for approval after making the necessary corrections.

Earlier, the communications ministry suggested a similar project and recommended Contech Ltd, a local firm, for building a 52-km tube in the city at a cost of around Tk 6,200 crore on the ‘built-own-operate’ basis.

The ministry in June selected Contech as it was the lowest bidder in the pre-qualification tender floated by the Bangladesh Railway in 2002. Only two firms, however, took part in the bidding.

Contech offered to build the underground system at a cost of Tk 6,200 crore in four years and to hand it over to the government 34 years later as it sought a 30-year concession time to recover its investment and make an adequate amount of profit.

According to Contech’s project design, the tube would have six routes with double lines touching all the busy and strategic points of the city with Tongi, Syedabad, Gabtali, Mohakhali, Farmgate, New Market and Sadarghat as some of the important junctions.

http://www.newagebd.com/met.html

[Tmac]

the highlighted paragraph of the above article makes me scared that this project will be shelved again once the elected government settles in. They will re-prioritize and decide to abandon this to give the project to their own people. Same cycle goes on forever.

[mirzazeehan]

Originally Posted by Tmac

the highlighted paragraph of the above article makes me scared that this project will be shelved again once the elected government settles in. They will re-prioritize and decide to abandon this to give the project to their own people. Same cycle goes on forever.

Wouldn't be that bad if this one is shelved actually...I would prefer to ride the mono-rail or Elevated expressway over an Underground Tube.Also given that the number of cars in Dhaka city is the main cause of such heavy traffic,I think it would be more practical to have the expressway.Car owners would never use the tube,so it would only help in reducing the number of buses,Taxis(which are not the reason behind the traffic jams in the first place).

[enu]

I would prefer to have an elevated Rail system than under ground one. By BD standard under groung rail stops will turn into drug dealers heaven or safe heaven for thugs. And not to mention general public's unhygenic habits of peeing or spitting anywhere. It's gonna turn into a nightmare instead. It's also cost effective to build an elevated monorail than under ground tracks. So, all things consider monorail is a better choice for us. What do you think guys?

[tanzirian]

Originally Posted by enu

I would prefer to have an elevated Rail system than under ground one. By BD standard under groung rail stops will turn into drug dealers heaven or safe heaven for thugs. And not to mention general public's unhygenic habits of peeing or spitting anywhere. It's gonna turn into a nightmare instead. It's also cost effective to build an elevated monorail than under ground tracks. So, all things consider monorail is a better choice for us. What do you think guys?

I had said previously especially taking into consideration our soft soil and flooding, that an elevated system may be better. However as far as I recall the Kolkata subway has been a success and since they have to deal with similar climactic / cultural issues, maybe it can work in Dhaka.

[enu]

It all depends on how prudent our engineers and the authority are. I don't have high hopes on them. Better to have a diligent foreign consulting farm to do the project and hand it over to private management.

[Tmac]

once again the highlighted paragraph below catches my attention. I think both metro and an expressway is needed for Dhaka's traffic problem.

Government focuses on building Metro Rail

The government yesterday set its priority on building a subway or underground railway system to ease traffic congestion and improve communication system in the capital.

The decision to build the network, to be known as Metro Rail, was taken in a meeting at communications ministry with Communications Adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin in the chair.

The meeting also decided that the next priority of the government would be to initiate the process of building an elevated expressway for Dhaka city.

The government would soon ask Board of Investment (BoI) to float a fresh international tender for the subway network.

The government is keen to start the work of the subway before it hands over power to an elected government next year, said Adviser Matin during the meeting.

The subway will be implemented on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, a communications ministry official told The Daily Star after the meeting yesterday.

On September 26, Contech Ltd, the lowest bidder in an international tender floated earlier, said during a presentation at the communications ministry on the proposed underground rail service that the soil of Dhaka city is suitable for construction of such underground rail network.

According to Contech plan, the subway trains would operate on six routes with fares ranging from Tk 5 to Tk 25. It would take four and a half years to complete the project.

Initially, the company would lay tracks underground at very shallow depths -- only 24 feet below the surface with an option to lay more tracks further down.

Following the presentation that day, Adviser Matin said a fresh international tender would be floated after setting the priorities and work order would be given to the lowest bidder of the new tender.

In yesterday's meeting, it was also decided that the amended Strategic Transport Plan would be sent to the council of advisers for approval.

The secretary of communications ministry, director general of Bangladesh Railway, chief engineer of Roads and Highways Department, executive director of Dhaka Transport Coordination Board and representatives from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha and Dhaka City Corporation were also present at the meeting.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=10392

[tareq79]

I agree with Tmac, both metro and an expressway is needed for Dhaka's traffic problem; and partially disagree with Mirza on Car owners would never use the tube.
The number of car owners in Dhaka has increased unusually last 2/3 years. This is caused by the lack of good mass transport system. A big portion of middle class owned cars (mainly reconditioned and used ones) to get rid of those murir tin bus services and rowdy taxi drivers despite the price hike of fuel and long queue for gas. I think if Metro see some daylight, most of the members of a car owner family (plus of course the majority who dont own cars) will prefer metro.
And a lot of people will prefer to live outside Dhaka and will use the nearest metro station at outskirts.

[sathya_226]

Dhaka nd bldesh govt should learn something from india (delhi metro)

[tanzirian]

Originally Posted by sathya_226

Dhaka nd bldesh govt should learn something from india (delhi metro)

Certainly we can learn from other places, however keep in mind that Delhi does not have the same environmental challenges as Dhaka; also India has a lot more money to spend than BD at this stage of our development.