The incumbent government wants to restart the process of appointing a contractor for constructing a metro rail line from Kamalapur to the airport in Dhaka. The interim government had decided to cancel this contractor appointment process due to the much higher cost proposals.

For the new route, Japanese contractors are demanding nearly 97 per cent more per kilometre than the government’s estimate. During the interim government’s tenure, analysis based on the contractors’ cost proposals showed that the cost would stand at about Tk 36.18 billion per kilometre, while the government had estimated it at Tk 18.39 billion. By contrast, the metro rail from Uttara to Motijheel in Dhaka cost around Tk 15 billion per kilometre.

During the interim government’s tenure, Faruque Ahmed was appointed managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), which operates the metro rail. He has experience working on metro rail and large infrastructure projects in different countries. After analysing costs in various countries, he raised questions about the proposed cost of Dhaka’s new metro rail.

DMTCL then informed Japan’s development partner agency JICA through a letter, based on government decisions, that the contractors’ bids could not be accepted. The government was interested in calling for fresh tenders.