Dhaka metro-rail company plans to make operational the entire corridor of the Mass Rapid Transit Line 6 (MRT-6) from Uttara to Motijheel by December this year.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) Managing Director MAN Siddique in a press conference on Thursday said full-fledged operation of the first phase of the MRT-6 - now under commercial operation on a trial basis from Uttara to Agargaon - will be carried out from morning to night from June.
He said Uttara North station and Mirpur-10 station will be opened on February 18 and March 01, respectively, and the remaining four stations in between Uttara and Agargaon will be opened by March 26.
Only 10 per cent electric catenary work from Agargaon to Motijheel part remains pending - a performance test on this part is expected to start in a month, said the MD.
Officials said, except the Motijheel station, structures of all six stations have been built, and electric and telecommunications equipment over the elevated track have been set up.
The work of Motijheel station will take some time to complete as its design is different from other stations.
Even electricity has been supplied till the Press Club station, they added.
According to official records, the progress of work from Agargaon to Motijheel under package-5 and -6 was recorded more than 90 per cent.
Ninety-three per cent electrical and mechanical work of this part was also completed till January.
However, sources said there is still doubt if the entire 20.1 km line can be made operational by the stipulated timeline due to a lack of adequate manpower.
It is learnt that DMTCL has so far trained nearly 270 people of various disciplines in two batches. Another batch of nearly 130 is now under training.
Though the state-owned company started the procedure to recruit a 3rd batch of staffers, its process might be delayed by two to three months, added the sources.
Meanwhile, the shipment of the last set of trains started last week from Japan - likely to arrive next month, said officials.
DMTCL has been implementing the MRT Line-6 at a cost of Tk 334.72 billion, including financial assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, since 2016.
Of the total route, the company inaugurated the 11.73 km line from Uttara to Agargaon, without touching any of the seven stations, on December 29 last year.
The remaining Agargaon-Motijheel corridor has six stations.
The DMTCL has just started construction of the MRT Line-6 extension part to link the corridor to Kamalapur station.
smunima@yahoo.com