BRT: Govt to sign deal in May, project work to begin in Mar next year
Dhaka, Mar 15 (UNB) – The work on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in the city will begin on March 13, 2013 as the government is going to sign a deal with the Asian Development Bank in May this year after its approval by Ecnec next month.
Officials at the Ministry of Communications said this after a seven-member ADB delegation, led by its visiting vice president Xiaoyu Zhao, met Communications Minister Obaidul Quader at his Secretariat office on Thursday morning.
They said work on the important project, aimed at easing the city’s vexing traffic jam, will be completed by 2016 at a cost of US$255 million.
Of the amount, the ADB will provide US$160 and France US$ 45 million while the rest will come from the national exchequer.
They said there will be seven flyovers across the 20-km BRT route from Airport to Gazipur as 50 articulated-buses will be plying over it. The route will also be made a four-lane one from the existing two-lane one, they added.
Once in operation, BRT will transport smoothly around 20,000 to 25,000 people per hour.
On February 7 this year, the cabinet a proposal for constituting a special project organisation (SPO) to operate the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka to Gazipur.
Meanwhile, the road from Joydebpur to Chandra and Tangail to Hatikamrul will be made four-lane one at an estimated cost of Tk 1846 crore. Of the total cost, the ADB will provide Tk 1427 crore.
