MRT Line 2 (Dhaka Metro)

In 2005, the World Bank published a study report, recommending that the government of Bangladesh build a mass transit system in Dhaka. In the same year, American consultancy firm Louis Berger Group prepared a strategic transport plan for Dhaka.[1] The World Bank helped to develop this plan, which proposed the construction of five MRT lines in Dhaka.[2] The five metro lines were MRT Line 1, MRT Line 2, MRT Line 4, MRT Line 5 and MRT Line 6.[3] On 15 June 2017, an agreement was signed between the government of Bangladesh and Japan to build MRT Line 2 on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis. On June 7 of the following year, a sub-working group headed by Marubeni was formed to list its construction project in the PPP.[4] It was planned to connect Gabtoli with Kamalapur through MRT Line 2. On 1 October 2019, Selina Hayat Ivy, the mayor of Narayanganj City Corporation, submitted a written request to Obaidul Quader, the Road Transport and Bridges minister, to connect Narayanganj with the Dhaka Metro network. As a result, in the meeting of the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority on 24 November 2019, it was decided to revise and extend the route of MRT Line 2 to Chittagong Road area of Narayanganj Sadar Upazila.[5] The pre-feasibility report showed that three lakh passengers could travel through this line. 24 stations were proposed on the route and the proposed length of the line was 24 km.[4] But the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) disagreed as the PPP study by the consultancy firm recommended that Japan should take the responsibility for operation and maintenance of MRT Line 2.[6] Based on a preliminary study prepared by Oriental Consultants Global and PwC for the fiscal year 2020-21, the project was declared ineligible for implementation in a March 2021 report. However, in 2015 the finalized Strategic Transport Plan (STP) made the project feasible. According to the study, if construction is done in PPP, the government would have to bear 85% of the budget, so the government excludes it from PPP and looks for donor agencies for construction. On the other hand, with another railway project underway on the proposed route of MRT Line 2, DMTCL planned to change the route to connect the southern city of Narayanganj with the metro network. The proposed mass rapid transit line was budgeted at about ৳60,000 crore.[7] In 2023, the government decided to request the Department of Economic Relations (ERD) to find donors to fund MRT Line 2.[8] ERD found World Bank, Japan and South Korea as potential donors.[9]