The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of the Metro Rail Bill 2014, which deals with land acquisition, operation and control of the project.

The project cost has been estimated at around Tk 220 billion, of which the government will bearTk 54 billion and Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) Tk 165 billion.

The metro rail service will operate from Sector-3 of Uttara to Bangladesh Bank in Motijheel. Trains will ply its 20.1-km route through 16 stations via Pallabi-Rokeya Sarani-Khamarbari-Farmgate-Hotel Sonargaon-Shahbagh-TSC-Doel Chattar and Topkhana Road. Trains will be able to transport 60,000 passengers per hour. The metro service will cut Uttara-Motijheel travel time to 36 minutes from two hours, said experts.

The cabinet gave the nod to the draft law at a meeting at the secretariat with Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina in the chair.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said the proposed law has a provision for a fine of Tk 1 crore or 10 years' imprisonment for operating a train without licence or illegal handover of licence.

Linder another provision of the proposed law, offenders will face five years' imprisonment or a fine of Tk 50,000 for obstructing the operation of metro rail.

According to the draft law, operators will have to insure all the passengers and pay compensations to any victim within 60 days of an accident.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) will operate the metro rail while it will be supervised by Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority.

The draft law has provisions for constructing and operating the metro rail under Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The cabinet endorsed the draft of the Public Private Partnership Bill, 2014. The draft proposed forming a PPP advisory council, headed by the prime minister. The finance minister would be the vice chairman of the council while the principal secretary of

the Prime Minister's Office would be the member secretary.

The draft defined various terms and conditions for PPP, including the process of determining private partners; cancellation and extension of agreements; negotiation process, and scope for accepting unsolicited proposals.

The meeting approved the “Saarc Framework Agreement for Energy Cooperation (Electricity)" aimed at enhancing cross-border electricity trade between the neighbouring countries.

The agreement is likely to be signed during the 18th Saarc Summit in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu on November 26-27.

The cabinet also gave the go-ahead to "Saarc Regional Railways Agreement".

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader in November last year said the metro rail project would be completed by 2019.

According to former Jica chiefTakao Toda, the metro rail will save Bangladesh an annual economic loss of Tk 200 billion, equivalent to 1.5 percent of the country's gross domestic production.

Nippon Koei Limited of Japan will lead the consortium of consultants that includes Nippon Koei India Limited, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited, Mott MacDonald Limited India, Mott MacDonald Limited UK and Development Design Consultants Limited Bangladesh.