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The groundbreaking ceremony to start construction of the country's first underground metro rail (MRT-1) in the city has been rescheduled to February 02 next from January 26.
Talking to the FE, Project Director Mohammad Abul Kashem Bhuiyan said the Prime Minister's Office proposed the new date.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was scheduled to inaugurate the construction work of the Mass Rapid Transit Line 1 at the depot site on January 26.
Sources said the event might have been rescheduled due to security reasons of the PM as the venue is close to the premises of the ongoing Dhaka International Trade fair.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DTMCL) signed the first contract of the 31.24-kilometre line with a Japan-Bangladesh joint venture company for developing the depot land.
The MRT-1 depot will be developed on 88.71 acres of land at Pitolganj and Brahmankhali in Rupganj upazila near the Kanchan Bridge.
The DMTCL has taken the Tk 525.61 billion project to develop a 19.87-km underground section from the Airport station to Kamalapur station with 12 stations and 11.36-km elevated section from Kuril to Purbachal with nine stations.