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Gazipur to Airport

Rapid bus project given go-ahead

Govt hopes to start work in July, ease traffic jam

Hasan Jahid Tusher
The cabinet yesterday approved a proposal for constituting a special project organisation (SPO) to operate the proposed Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Dhaka to Gazipur.
The approval came at a weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Secretariat.
The proposed company, Trans Dhaka, will operate BRT while the Roads and Highways Department and Bridge Division under the Communications Ministry and the Local Government Division of LGRD ministry will implement the project. Once in operation, BRT will transport smoothly around 20,000 to 25,000 people per hour.
The implementation work of BRT is set to start from July at a cost of $240 million, of which $145 million will be provided by the Asian Development Bank, Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan briefed reporters after the meeting.
“We will start the loan negotiation within a week. If everything goes well, we can begin work in July and hope to complete it within the tenure of the present government,” Communications Secretary MAN Siddque told The Daily Star, adding that the tentative target to finish the work was 2015.
He said articulated buses would ply on the route and every 10 minutes, as had been discussed primarily, would touch a station so that passengers would not have to wait in long queues.
Apart from the airport-Gazipur route, the authorities would start work on three other BRT lines — airport to Saidabad via Malibagh, Saidabad to Gabtoli, and airport to Sadarghat within the present government's tenure, added Siddique.
The communications secretary said work on implementing Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line-6 was under process and the government was working to implement two other MRT lines to ease the capital's traffic congestion.
Asked how people would
move from the airport to other parts of the capital, including Motijheel, he said they could use the MRT-6, also known as Metro Rail, which would ply from Uttara Third Phase to Saidabad and the elevated expressway that connects airport with Chittagong Road.
There are two proposals for dedicated routes for articulated buses — through the fast lane and along the slow lane, said Siddique, adding that most experts recommended the fast lane of the road.
However, there is opinion against this recommendation. According to some experts, if buses use the middle of the road, they would have to stop at stations every 10 minutes crossing lanes which might have a negative impact on the traffic situation.
“Considering these aspects, we will go for a test trial soon and then take the
final decision," said the secretary.
The cabinet meeting also approved the Members of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission (Terms and Conditions of Service) (Amendment) Act 2012, yesterday, aiming to increase the salary of the PSE chairman and members equivalent to the cabinet secretary and secretaries.
It approved the draft of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Maritime University Act 2012, the list of 476 items, to give preferential tariff facilities to QIC member countries under the Protocol on Preferential Tariff Scheme forTPS-OIC.
The cabinet also approved a proposal for ratification of the Framework Agreement on the Promotion and Liberalisation of Trade Services among APTA Participating States and the Bilateral Trade Agreement signed with Kuwait.