Japan to provide $1.4 billion funding for subway in Dhaka

The Japanese government is providing a loan of Tk $ 1.4 billion (Tk 114 billion) to Bangladesh for construction of a subway in the capital Dhaka, reports UNB.

The two sides signed the loan agreement on Tuesday.

Fatima Yasmin, secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), and ITO Naoki, the ambassador of Japan signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

The total cost of the Metrorail Line-5 project is Tk 412.38 billion. Under the project, 13.50 km underground metro rail and 6.50 km elevated metro rail will be constructed. The new metro rail, 14 km, will be the subway of the 20 km long line from Gabtali to Bhatara.

The remaining 6 km will be elevated. As a result, there will be a metrorail with a combination of subway and elevated systems on the same route . The proposed MRT Route-5 (Northern Route) will have 14 stations. Nine of these stations will be underground. The remaining five stations will be overground.

The objective of the project is to alleviate traffic congestion and mitigate air pollution in Dhaka city by constructing 20 km mass rapid transit system, MRT line-5 from Hemayetpur-Aminbazar Gabtoli-Mirpur I-Mirpul-10 Kochukhet-Cantonment-Banani-Gubhan2-Nutun Bazar and Bhatara.

The rate of interest of this loan will be 0.7 per cent for construction 0.0114 per cent for consultancy services, front end fee (at a time) 0.294 per cent and repayment period will be 30 years which includes 10-year grace period.