Dhaka BRT to open fully for traffic in June next year: Quader

The 20.5km Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) between the Dhaka airport to Gazipur will be opened for traffic in May or the first week of June next year, according to Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidal Quader, ending traffic woes on the busy route prompted by the constructions for more than a decade.   

While inaugurating the House Building-Tongi 2-lane stretch of the project Sunday, the minister said the partial opening will help ease traffic sufferings to Dhaka-bound people from Mymensingh and Gazipur.         

Noting commuters have been suffering immensely due to the mismanagement and inefficiency of the contractor, the minister expressed sorrow for the traffic inconvenience. He called for patience for a few more months as the project is nearing the end.

Quader said the construction of one of two tubes of Bangabandhu tunnel under Karnaphuli river has been completed. After completing the second tube, the project will be inaugurated in December this year or January next year.     

He said that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will attend a function virtually on 26 November to celebrate the completion of the first tube.

A part of the country's first metro rail will be inaugurated in December, said the road transport and bridges minister, adding the prime minister will inaugurate 100 bridges simultaneously across the country on Monday. 

He also said that approval of new projects will be limited ahead of the next national elections in the last week of December 2023 or early-2024.  

Referring to the Dhaka BRT project, he said, "We appointed such a contractor for the work who has shown mismanagement at every stage from the beginning. As a result, people of the Gazipur area have suffered severely. Many even missed their flights."

"The government has a large number of projects. Few of them may get riddled with some issues," said Obaidul Quader. 

The BRT project was undertaken in 2012 with an estimated cost of Tk2,040 crore to ease traffic hassle by constructing dedicated bus corridors on the Dhaka airport-Gazipur route. The initial deadline was 2016.

But the construction deal was signed in 2016 as lengthy paperworks pushed the project to miss the first deadline even before hitting the ground.       

Two Chinese companies were appointed as contractors of the key civil works of the project. The project subsequently made the headlines several times thanks to inadequate manpower, equipment shortage, lack of funding and safety issues.

After missing the deadlines multiple times, the estimated cost shot up to Tk4,268.33 crore – nearly 109% higher than the initial cost.