To improve its connectivity with the national capital, steps are under way to link Narayanganj with two metro rail lines. The decision was taken following an application by Narayanganj city corporation mayor Selina Hayat Ivy. Through the MRT lines 2 and 4, A connection will be established between Narayanganj and Dhaka.
To connect Narayanganj to metro rail, Selina Hayat Ivy made an application to Roads, Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Oct 1.
The application stated that Narayanganj came under the Dhaka Transport Co-ordination Authority, DTCA. Under the DTCA’s Revised Strategic Transport Plan, RSTP, a proposal has been made to construct 5 MRT lines and 21 multi model terminal hubs. There is also a move to extend existing MRT line 4 till Narayanganj.
However, it was stated at a DTC meeting that while presenting the amended RSTP, enough information about traffic in Narayanganj was not collected. Carrying out a traffic survey would also be time- consuming.
In the future, A middle ring road, A high speed road, and A light road will go through Narayanganj and to build them proper coordination will be needed. Mayor Ivy said: “We welcome the scheme!”
Bridges and Transport minister Obaidul Quader, said: “A decision has been taken to formulate a detailed transport plan for the development of Narayanganj.”
Public transport specialist, Professor Shamsul Huq, commented: “The initiative is sound; many commuters want to come to Dhaka from Narayanganj. The services which run now are slow. If commuters can come by metro rail. Much time will be saved.”
At present, many come to Kamlapur from Gazipur or Narayanganj and go to work via bus. Once metro rail starts they can commute between office and home faster. In addition to Narayanganj, Gazipur should also be connected to metro rail, he observed.