Chief Representative's Speech

Honorable Minister, Mr. Obaidul Quader, Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges,
His Excellency Mr. Naoki Ito, Honorable Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh
Mr. Nazrul Islam, Secretary, Road Transport and Highways Division,
Mr. M.A.N. Siddique, Managing Director, Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen

Assalamu-Alaikum, Namaskar and Good Morning

It is indeed my great pleasure to be witness the contract signing for consulting service contract of MRT Line-5 northern section. The implementation of the Dhaka city's first east-west metro line has just taken off.

We all know the significance of consulting services for the efficient and proper implementation of project. I would like to congratulate the Joint venture of Nippon Koei (Japan), Oriental Consultants (Japan), Systra (France), Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (India), Nippon Koei India, Katahira & Engineers International and Development Design Consultants, Bangladesh and Nippon Koei Bangladesh for being awarded the Consulting Service Contract of MRT Line 5.

I would like to covey my gratitude also to DMTCL for successful procurement of this important package.

Distinguished Guests,

20-Kilometer-long, MRT Line 5, is an important part of the mass transportation network of Dhaka which will connect important urban centers such as Gabtoli Bus Terminal, Mirpur, Banani, Gulshan and Baridhara. After completion of construction, Line 5 will be connected with Line 6 and Line 1 and an integrated MRT network will be established in Dhaka city.

JICA promotes ‘Quality Infrastructure' through ODA Loan Projects. We recognize that implementation of urban transport project in a densely populated city like Dhaka is always challenging. I am happy to know that this Project is adopting some advanced technology to mitigate the negative impact of construction work to the traffic during construction.

Distinguished Guests,

The construction work of MRT Line 6, the country's first metro rail project supported by JICA, has shown significant progress. Around 10 km of viaduct is now visible.

We further welcome Government's decision to extend Line 6 up to Kamalapur Central Railway station, which is very important on the aspect of transportation networking. We are hopeful, Ministry of Railways, DMTCL and Bangladesh Railway will soon agree on the exact alignment of the extension.

If all of on-going 3 Metro rail lines are fully inaugurated, metro network will dramatically change the life style of Dhaka citizens. However, even after completion of MRT construction, the network will not function efficiently without proper feeder services and station plaza. Metro station will be over-flooded if citizens freely access to metro station by motorbike, rickshaws, CNG and Taxi. In this regard, DMTCL can coordinate with relevant agencies to establish public feeder services in order to lead proper city development.

Some of you have already seen "Rapid Pass". This electrical card is expected to enable users to pay fare of both MRT and Bus under "One card for All" policy initiated by Honorable Minister. JICA is also pleased to support establishing "Integrated Fare settlement system" through technical cooperation project. Both hard infrastructure investment and technical cooperation have made this mega dream projects bring the first-class services to the people of Dhaka.

On the other hand, the increasing impact of COVID 19 is adversely affecting the implementation of ongoing MRT projects. Health and safety of the Project personnel (both international and Bangladeshi) should be given priority. DMTCL should implement risk mitigating measures and conduct information, education and communication campagain to avoid the spread of corona virus at project site of MRT.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Taking this opportunity, please allow me to convey my sincere condolences to the seven Japanese engineers who worked and lost lives four years back when preparing the feasibility study of MRT Line 1 and Line 5 project.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We expect this MRT Line-5 project will start operation as per set schedule. In order to realize this challenging task, DMTCL, as the first MRT operating and maintaining body in this country, will have to complete all the necessary recruitment and training of the staffs in timely manner to provide world standard services to the Dhaka commuters. At this stage, timely recruitment of DMTCL staffs is crucially important to develop their capacity through on the ground training for operation and maintenance. JICA will provide assistance to human resource development by using consulting service.

Distinguished Guests,

I would like to conclude my remarks by thanking again the efforts made by our colleagues of Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, DMTCL and all the people who made this dream project come forward.

I promise JICA will continue its support to our colleagues of Bangladesh to see our dream come true in the near future.

Thank you very much.