Bangladesh Railway (BR) has finally accepted a proposal put forward by Dhaka Metro Rail Company to link its under-construction mass rapid transit line-6 (MRT-6) with Kamalapur station.
The state-owned train developer earlier objected to the entrance of MRT-6 from the front side of the station as it has taken a strategic decision to keep the entrance open to turn the Kamalapur station into a multimodal transportation hub (MMTH).
The BR has made good progress in converting the Kamalapur station into MMTB under public-private partnership (PPP) model as a Japanese company is working on the project with billions of dollar investment plan.
The firm selected by the Japanese government under government-to-government PPP arrangement placed the demand to BR to allow all transport related projects planned to be part of the MMTH from the backside. They prepared the draft design of MMTH keeping a wide open space to make it attractive to future financiers, BR sources said.
"We will now allow the MRT-6 to get connected with the Kamalapur station as per the directive of the Prime Minister's Office," said Director General of Bangladesh Railway Mohammad Shamsuzzaman.
He said a meeting with all concerned will be held soon to make an amicable solution in this regard as the MRT-6 is also a government project and it needs a solution to end metro rail journey giving an option to its commuters.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) has been constructing the MRT-6 from Uttara 3rd phase to Motijheel with the technical and financial support of Japan International Cooperation Agency.
As the MRT-6 has a lack in transit oriented development (ToD) which would allow its passengers to avail suitable modes of transports under one roof, the DMTCL proposed to link the first metro rail with MMTH.
Though it had earlier tried to accept the BR's proposal, but could not find any solution to link from behind due to narrow space from Motijheel to Kamalapur railway station.
Apart from the MRT-6, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha also planned to touch the ground of its proposed flyover from the front side of the Kamalapur station, but it was not accepted.
Sources said though the BR accepted the decision of the DMTCL, the railway minister may talk with the all concerned soon over the draft design of the MMTH.
They said the minister may also try to convince the PM of the Japanese investor's demand.
BR has to accommodate nine transport systems with the MMTB including its own train service, high speed train, and bus terminals with the project apart from four MRTs and Dhaka Elevated Expressway.
