14 years of misery, Tk 30b spent, only for the project to be cancelled

Construction continued for 14 years, costing Tk 28.11 billion (2,811 crore). Yet the special buses for which the project was undertaken never began operating.

Instead, traffic congestion and public suffering increased along the 20-kilometre stretch of the Dhaka–Mymensingh Highway between the airport and Gazipur. The government has now decided to cancel the project and convert the existing infrastructure into a conventional highway.

At a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Sunday, the government discussed the future of the Gazipur Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project. The Road Transport and Highways Division issued a letter the following day outlining the discussions and decisions taken at the meeting.

Under the decision, the government has proposed removing the BRT corridor’s stations and lane dividers and converting the road into a conventional highway with three to six lanes. It has also proposed upgrading two two-lane flyovers to four lanes.

The authorities have been instructed to consult the relevant development partners, resolve legal complications and take the necessary steps to close the project.

The cabinet has also approved a proposal to shut down the Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company, established to operate the BRT service, and transfer its functions to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD).

The government has directed the relevant authorities to take urgent action to implement the cabinet’s decisions. They must report progress to the ministry within 15 days and submit further progress reports by the third day of every month until the process is complete.

According to sources at the Road Transport and Highways Division, the cabinet discussed four alternatives: (1) cancelling the project; (2) completing the unfinished work, procuring BRT buses and launching the service; (3) retaining the BRT corridor in its existing condition and allowing both dedicated buses and existing private buses to operate; and (4) operating the BRT corridor as a toll road.

The government ultimately decided to cancel the project and use the road as a conventional highway. This means the existing stations and the dividers separating the BRT lanes will have to be demolished. The flyovers will be expanded in the future.

However, an organisation called Gazipur Heritage and Development has been campaigning for the completion of the BRT project and the introduction of dedicated buses. It has held several press conferences in support of the project and sent letters to various government offices.

Mohammad Shamsul Haque, president of the organisation, told Prothom Alo on Tuesday that residents of Gazipur had endured unimaginable suffering over the past 14 years. He argued that cancelling the project after 97 per cent of the work had been completed would be wrong. He said the organisation would send a letter protesting the government’s decision.

Before the government decided the future of the BRT project, an expert team from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) reviewed its technical aspects.

Professor Shamsul Haque of BUET’s Department of Civil Engineering led the team. The experts submitted their report to the Road Transport and Highways Division in October last year.

After reviewing reports from two committees formed by the Road Transport and Highways Division during the interim government’s tenure, the BUET team recommended cancelling the project entirely and upgrading the existing infrastructure for use as an improved highway.

The report described the project as an example of “systemic failure” in the planning and implementation of infrastructure projects in Bangladesh. The team attributed the situation to inadequate technical assessments, a shortage of skilled personnel and a lack of accountability. It also identified flaws in the project’s planning and design, along with poor coordination among the agencies involved.

According to sources at the Road Transport and Highways Division, the government had planned to build another BRT corridor from Uttara to Keraniganj with funding from the World Bank.

However, the second project was cancelled because the Gazipur–Airport corridor failed to begin operations on time. This raised questions about the viability of the Gazipur–Airport section.

Another challenge concerns the doors of buses currently operating in Bangladesh, which are located on the left-hand side. The BRT stations, however, have been designed for buses with doors on the right-hand side.

Although right-side doors are standard for BRT systems worldwide, buses with this configuration would not be able to operate beyond the Gazipur–Airport corridor.

Professor Shamsul Haque, head of the BUET expert team, told Prothom Alo that cancelling the project was the best option among the possible alternatives.

However, he emphasised that the people of Gazipur and others travelling along the route had endured hardship for 14 years and deserved an alternative transport arrangement.

He explained that, even if the BRT buses began operating, residents of Gazipur would only be able to travel as far as the airport and would then have to change buses, making the system impractical.

Shamsul Haque added that cancelling the project and converting the corridor into a high-speed highway would benefit users of Gazipur’s industrial areas. He also suggested introducing commuter train services from Gazipur to Kamalapur, noting that construction of the railway’s third and fourth lines was nearing completion.

The ousted Awami League government launched the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in 2012 to connect the airport with Shibbari in Gazipur, covering approximately 20 kilometres. Of the total route, 15.07 kilometres consists of road-level sections, with the remainder running on elevated structures.

The plan was to operate dedicated buses along two separate lanes in the middle of the road. Officials projected that the service would carry around 25,000 passengers a day once operational. The buses were expected to avoid traffic congestion, traffic signals and other obstructions.

The BRT project relied primarily on foreign funding. Alongside the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) are financing the project.

The initial estimated cost stood at around Tk 20.40 billion (2,040 crore). The authorities planned to complete construction in 2016 and introduce special buses with automatic doors in 2017.

However, construction never finished. Three revisions pushed the estimated cost up to Tk 42.68 billion (4,268 crore), of which Tk 28.11 billion (2,811 crore) has been spent.

In 2025, the authorities proposed a fourth revision, which would have increased the project cost to Tk 65.98 billion (6,598 crore) and extended the deadline to 2029. However, during the interim government’s tenure, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) did not approve the revised proposal. Instead, it instructed the authorities to explore alternatives and identify the individuals or organisations responsible for the design flaws.

Although Bangladesh’s BRT project was the country’s first, many other countries already operate such systems. According to the website Global BRT Data, 191 cities worldwide have BRT systems, carrying more than 32.5 million passengers daily.

Neighbouring India operates BRT systems in 13 cities. These systems, spanning 228 kilometres, carry around 500,000 passengers a day. China’s BRT systems carry approximately 4.4 million passengers daily, while Taiwan’s systems serve around 1.35 million.

Authorities have built infrastructure for 15 stations along the middle of the road between the airport and Gazipur. However, none of the stations is fully complete.

Several pedestrian overbridges designed to help passengers board and leave buses have escalators and lifts, but many of these facilities remain unusable. Equipment has rusted in some places, while structures are deteriorating elsewhere.

The authorities installed concrete barriers along the centre of the road to separate the BRT lanes, with metal fencing at certain points. These structures have reduced the space available for other traffic. Vehicles also face difficulties where the route alternates between elevated sections, ground-level roads and narrow lanes.

Cancelling the project will require the authorities to demolish the stations. The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) plans to relocate the lifts and other equipment for use elsewhere.

People travelling from greater Mymensingh, northern Bangladesh and Tangail use this road regularly. During construction, accidents involving cranes and other incidents also claimed seven lives.

Relevant sources said the authorities launched the project before completing a comprehensive feasibility study and design. After construction began, they discovered that the project area lacked an adequate drainage system, causing water to accumulate.

The authorities had also failed to plan in advance for relocating utility lines belonging to various service providers. Nor had they arranged alternative traffic management measures to keep vehicles moving while construction continued on the busy road.

Three government agencies were responsible for implementing the project: the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), the Bridges Division and the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED). In 2013, the authorities established the Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company to operate the BRT service.

The company currently has 18 employees, including its managing director. However, its activities remain limited because the authorities never purchased the dedicated buses. The government has now decided to dissolve the company and bring its functions under the RHD.

The BUET report recommended holding the consultants who prepared the feasibility study and designed the project, as well as the government officials involved in its planning and implementation, accountable.

It also recommended reviewing the roles of the funding agencies, the project steering committee, the Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation Division (IMED) and the Planning Commission.

However, the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) has also raised concerns about the financial implications of cancelling the project.

At a seminar last year, the organisation argued that cancelling the project would be inappropriate when only 3 per cent of the infrastructure work remained unfinished.

According to its estimates, removing the stations, ramps and escalators and compensating contractors could cost more than Tk 10 billion (1,000 crore) if the government cancels the project.