Having failed to get land from Bangladesh Railway (BR) for construction of a bus stopover at Nimtoli, the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) board has formed a subcommittee to hold further negotiations with the BR.
The Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has long been seeking the land to set up a bus terminal there.
The BR had initially agreed to hand over the land, but changed its stance recently due to its own requirement for the land to develop an extended part of its headquarters, a research academy and a training centre.
The subcommittee, with the LGRD and Cooperatives Minister as its convenor, would coordinate various transport projects related issues with different agencies, Road Transport and Bridge Minister Obaidul Quader told a media briefing after the 16the board meeting on Sunday.
"Lack of coordination has been visible in formulation and implementation of different projects. The meeting has also realised this and that's why the committee is formed," he added. The minister said the issues of setting up four bus terminals under the bus route rationalisation programme were discussed at the meeting and the subcommittee has been assigned to hold meetings with the DSCC and BR to solve the issue of Nimtoli terminal.
Earlier in 2018, the DTCA conducted a study on setting up the city terminal and suggested the DSCC carry out the work to set up a stopover bus terminal in a 3.97-acre area.
The study also stated Nimtoli as an attractive stopover space and proposed to set up a multistoried and multipurpose terminal there, having a total of 721,397 square feet area. It would be a 20-minute stopover place for 84 buses.
However, sources said, the DSCC that has already occupied a section of land of the BR has almost no control over it. Another quarter also said the demand was raised when there was a lack of terminals in the city.
Now three terminals in the city's Mohakhali, Gabtoli and Saidabad areas are likely to be freed after the four inter district terminals are developed outside of the city including Katchpur and Ghatarchar. The DTCA board meeting was held at the conference room of its new building at Tejgaon with the RTB minister in the chair.
Majority of the 31-member board including DSCC Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Tapos, the Inspector General of Police and Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner attended the meeting. The meeting neither discussed the pending issues of the 15the board meeting nor DTCA's capacity building, meeting sources said.
The secretaries of different ministries, including railways and road transport, and heads of different transport agencies were present at the meeting.
The RTB minister said the meeting directed all agencies concerned to complete road development work before the rainy season. As the board members came up with different views on strengthening the DTCA's rights and working capacity, he said the meeting decided to hold discussion on the issue with the Prime Minister.
