There will be 14 stations

The work for Bangladesh's second underground metro rail is set to begin in July this year. 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will officially inaugurate the construction of the underground metro rail service from Dhaka's Hemayetpur to Vatara.

Officials of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) said they are holding meetings about the construction work, but a date still needs to be set.

They also said the land acquisition and registration of the land acquired had been completed.

Currently, the "MRT Line-5 Northern Route" initiative is in progress with the objective of constructing a 20km underground metro rail service connecting Hemayetpur to Vatara by the year 2028.

The route will consist of 13.5km of underground infrastructure and 6.5km of elevated infrastructure. In total, there will be 14 stations, (nine underground and five aerial) for passenger boarding and alighting.

How much work has been done?

Officials say that the feasibility study and basic design of the MRT Line-5 Northern Route have already been completed, but the work for detailed design is still in progress. As of April, the project's detailed design has progressed to 80%. 

After the financial evaluation of the tender for the Hemayetpur Depot land development package, the consent of the donor agency Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) has also been received. It is currently in the process of being presented to the board meeting of DMTCL for approval.

About Tk934.84 crore has been paid for the estimated amount of 99.25 acres of land acquisition for the construction of Hemayetpur Depot and Depot Access Corridor. 

The acquired land was taken over on October 3, 2022, and a gazette for the 99.25 acres on issued on October 20 of the same year. In the meantime, land registration was completed. 

As of the end of April, the overall progress of land acquisition for the Hemayetpur Depot stands at 85%.

DMTCL Managing Director MAN. Siddique said that the construction work of MRT Line-5 Northern Route is likely to be inaugurated by the Honorable Prime Minister in July. 

The construction of aeronautical and underground stations will be carried out efficiently by studying all aspects, he added.

Line-5 Northern Route map

The route alignment of MRT Line-5 is Hemayetpur-Boliarpur-Bilamalia-Amin Bazar and Gabtoli. From there, it will go to Banani through Darus Salam - Mirpur1- Mirpur 10 - Mirpur 14 and Kachukhet.

Then the line will go to Vatara via Gulshan 2 and Natun Bazar. 

In this section, from Hemayetpur to Amin Bazar and Vatara, the metro rail will be aerial. There will be an underground metro rail from Gabtali to Natun Bazar section.

Other metro rail projects 

On December 28, 2022, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the metro rail movement of MRT Line-6 from Uttara north to Agargaon.

Besides, on February 2 this year, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction of the first underground metro rail MRT line-1 airport route and the Purbachal route.