The Dhaka Metro Rail has brought unprecedented speed and convenience to journalist Marina Mitu’s life. Her daily commute from Matikata in Mirpur to her office in Motijheel is no longer an ordeal.
To get there, she takes a battery-powered autorickshaw from Matikata to Pallabi before boarding the metro. Previously, even a motorcycle ride along this route could take up to two hours; now, the journey takes just 30 minutes.
“I no longer have to endure stifling traffic jams in the heat,” Mitu told TIMES of Bangladesh. “Because the metro is air-conditioned, the commute is comfortable. In fact, I rarely ride my motorcycle anymore.”
Tayeb Millat Hossain, a resident of Badda, had hoped to experience that same relief.
An underground metro line was scheduled to become operational this year through his neighbourhood, but progress ground to a halt following the August 2024 uprising.
“Badda’s Pragati Sarani remains constantly clogged with inter-district buses, cargo trucks, and countless rickshaws, causing gridlock all day and late into the night. It’s incredibly frustrating that work on this metro route has stopped. We just want the hurdles cleared and Metro construction to resume.”
The interim government paused progress on this line, and the stance of the current BNP administration remains unclear.
Upon returning to the country, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman suggested building a monorail instead of expanding the metro system, arguing that monorails are better suited for Dhaka.
Transportation experts, however, counter that a monorail can never truly replace a high-capacity metro rail in a city as densely populated as Dhaka. They think monorail, at best, can run parallelly to metro rail.
Meanwhile, the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year offers few specifics on the project’s future. The finance minister in his budget speech said, “A modern public transport network consisting of six metro rail lines will be built to resolve traffic congestion in Dhaka. There are also plans to build a monorail-based feeder network connected to the metro rail. In addition, as part of an environmentally friendly public transport system, initiatives have been taken to gradually replace old buses with electric buses.”
Uncertainty during interim regime
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) initially planned to launch six metro routes by 2030 to alleviate severe traffic congestion, a system whose viability was proven by the successful MRT Line 6 from Uttara to Motijheel.
On 2 February 2023, the deposed prime minister inaugurated construction on MRT Line 1, spanning from the airport to Kamalapur. Originally scheduled for a 2026 launch with an estimated cost of Tk52,561 crore, the line comprises a 19.872-kilometre underground route with 12 stations from the airport to Kamalapur, and an 11.37-kilometre elevated section connecting Natun Bazar to Purbachal.
A 1,219-acre depot was also established in Pitalganj, Narayanganj, specifically for this line. Later that year, on 4 November, construction began on the 20-kilometre MRT Line 5 (Northern Route) from Hemayetpur in Savar to Bhatara. Featuring 13.50 kilometres of underground tracks and 6.50 kilometres of elevated lines, it was slated for completion by 2028.
However, the expansion plan was derailed following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024. The Muhammad Yunus-led interim government suspended work on MRT Line 5 (Southern Route), planned from Gabtoli to Dasherkandi via Aftabnagar, and took no steps to advance MRT Line 1 or MRT Line 5 (North), plunging them into uncertainty. Consequently, the estimated construction cost for MRT Line 1 has surged past Tk94,000 crore.
During its tenure, the interim government discussed cost-reduction measures with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica). Although an agreement with the Japanese construction firm was supposed to be finalised by 30 June under the latest timeline, the government failed to reach a pricing consensus.
As a result, work on MRT Line 5 (North) has completely stopped, with no progress on the southern route. Furthermore, neither DMTCL nor the government has advanced MRT Line 2, from Gabtoli to Chittagong Road in Narayanganj, or MRT Line 4, from Kamalapur to Narayanganj, despite a 2017 public-private partnership agreement with Japan for the latter. Meanwhile, the interim government approved 135 new projects totalling roughly Tk2.03 lakh crore, with Chattogram district receiving the largest expenditure share, while 21 districts received no specific allocations.
MRT Line 1 Deputy Project Director (Public Relations) Nazmul Islam Bhuiyan told TIMES that by August 2024, only one of the project’s 12 packages was completed. When the interim government took over, the remaining packages were at various stages of tender evaluation, but no final decisions were reached.
Although project officials note the tender process remains technically active with ongoing discussions, the overall project requires formal approval before tenders can be finalised. Reflecting on the tangle, urban planner Adil Muhammad Khan told TIMES this 18-month implementation delay deprives the public of critical services.
Dr Md Hadiuzzaman, a civil engineering professor at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), observed that the interim government repeatedly failed to lower expenditures because Jica refused the reductions, noting they should have considered alternative structural transformations.
MRT Line 5 Project Director Mohammad Abdul Wahab stated the project’s future depends entirely on a government policy decision, urging that the new administration be given time. Transport expert Dr Shamsul Hoque emphasised the urgent need for the metro system, arguing that under the current Jica framework, construction costs are significantly higher than in other countries, and urged the current administration to complete the remaining lines at more competitive rates.
BNP prefers monorail system
In the Annual Development Program (ADP) of 2026-27 fiscal year, the budget allocates Tk7,350 crore for the underground MRT Line 1 and Tk3,903 crore for MRT Line 5.
However, the government has remained silent on how it plans to resolve the ongoing complications and finalise the contract with JICA.
Instead, the BNP-led administration is advocating for a monorail system, a shift that is reflected in the budget framework.
Even with the BNP government taking office under the leadership of Tarique Rahman, the deadlock surrounding the metro rail remains unresolved. Finance minister’s budget speech prominently features the monorail alternative without offering specific directives on the existing metro lines.
A monorail is a mass transit system that operates on a single rail or beam rather than two parallel tracks. Because its infrastructure requires a relatively small footprint, it can be easily integrated into narrow streets and densely populated urban areas.
Additionally, its construction costs are generally lower than those of a heavy rail metro system. Monorails currently complement metro networks in numerous countries, including China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates.
While monorails were never included in Dhaka’s original Strategic Transport Plan (STP) or the Revised Strategic Transport Plan (RSTP), the government is currently drafting a new Urban Transport Policy to officially accommodate them.
A detailed roadmap for this monorail network is yet to be announced.
Transport expert Dr Shamsul Hoque highlighted the lack of a proper feeder network as a critical flaw in Dhaka’s current public transport planning.
According to him, the metro rail project was never developed as a truly integrated master plan; instead, routes were simply mapped out wherever wide roads happened to be available. As a result, many densely populated neighbourhoods remain cut off from effective public transit.
“A modern city’s public transit system cannot rely on the metro rail alone,” Dr Hoque said. “It requires an integrated network that combines the metro with monorails, Light Rail Transit (LRT), Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), bus route franchises, and localized feeder services.”
Dr Md Habibur Rahman, a professor of civil engineering at BUET, echoed these concerns to The Times: “We should have organised our existing road networks first. From there, we should have transitioned to lighter infrastructure like monorails, and finally to heavy metro rail. Unfortunately, our policy priorities have been completely reversed.”
