Fund surrender sets three MRT lines on backburner

Promised speedy construction of three MRT lines for Dhaka metro rail goes in the slow lane with the project company surrendering substantial funds allocated in the current budget for the works, officials said.

The state-run Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) has sought 54-percent less funds than its current allocations in the development budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2023-24, they added.

It may affect the implementation of the MRT-6, MRT-1 and MRT-5 (North) construction works, some persons involved with the project told the FE on Friday.

The DMTCL authority has proposed surrendering Tk44.44 billion in the upcoming revised annual development programme (RADP) from its Tk82.16-billion current allocation in the ADP for the three MRT lines, they said.

A Planning Commission (PC) official said: "DMTCL has recently sought Tk 37.71 billion or 54 per cent lower than its existing outlay of Tk 82.16 billion for the three MRT-line projects in the forthcoming RADP for the current fiscal.

"We are scrutinizing the proposal and the reasons behind the fund surrender from its annual allocation in the ADP," he told the FE writer.

"Since the current fiscal was the election year and there were some delays in land acquisition and developments, the target works for the MRT-6, MRT-1 and MRT-5 (North) will not be completed in time. So we have demanded lower funds than the current allocations," a senior DMTCL official said.

Among the three MRTs, DMTCL has sought least funds for the ongoing MRT-1 and MRT-6 projects.

For the MRT-1, to be constructed from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) to Kamalapur, DMTCL has proposed to surrender Tk 29.12 billion or 74.5 per cent from its current fiscal allocation of Tk39.10 billion.

Also proposed to be given up is Tk 14.32 billion or 42 per cent from its current ADP allocation of Tk 34.25 billion for the MRT-6, being constructed from Uttara to Kamlapur via Motijheel.

For the MRT-5 (North), the company has sought 11.36-percent lesser funds to Tk7.80 billion from its original allocation of Tk 8.80 billion in the current ADP.

Earlier, it had pledged to complete the MRT-6 by June next year 2025 while the MRT-1 by 2026 and the MRT-5 North by 2028.

A senior Planning Commission official says since DMTCL is suddenly surrendering a huge amount of its budget allocations in the middle this fiscal, the progress of the ongoing three MRT lines will be delayed.

"When the government is trying to implement the MRT projects in time, the DMTCL's sudden 54-percent fund cut is an interesting step," he adds.

The progress on the MRT-1 is so slower that DMTCL is forced to surrender its allocated fiscal funds, says a DMTCL official.

According to DMTCL, it has even failed to complete the land-development works of the depot at Pitalganj in Narayanganj for the 19.87km-long underground metro rail from Airport to Kamalapur and another 11.37km elevated line from Khilkhet to Purbachal.

Till December 2023, only 29 per cent of the land development works of the depot has been completed.

The state-run mass transport company lagged in completing the land development of the depot for the MRT-5 (North) route to be constructed 6.5km elevated part from Hemayetpur to Aminbazar and 13.50km underground run from Aminbazar to Vatara.

For the MRT-6 line, although the progress on the Uttara-to-Motijheel line is a bit better but that of the Motijheel-to-Kamlapur portion is still struggling.

Only 22.16 per cent of the 1.16km-long annexed portion of the MRT-6 from Motijheel to Kamlapur had been completed till December.

Besides, some 2.0-percent works on the Agargaon-to-Motijheel portion of the MRT-6 still stay unfinished, the DMTCL sources said.

[email protected]