The long-cherished dream of the people of Dhaka city for metro rail is set to become true as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would formally open its construction work next month.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina would formally inaugurate the construction work of the 21-km metro rail next month," Road Transport and Bridges Minister Oabidul Quader told reporters while visiting the development work of metro rail depot adjacent to Diabari Bazar area of Uttara Third Phase Project in the capital today.

The minister hoped that the commercial operation of Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line- 6 would commence in 2019 as the implementation time of the project has been advanced at the consent of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which is funding the scheme.

Quader said the depot development work of the MRT-6 has begun after its preparatory work. Taka 567 crore would be spent for the land development and construction of establishments in the depot area, he said.

The minister said the project authority signed an agreement with Tokyo Construction Company, a Japanese firm selected through international tender, for setting up the depot in the last week of March this year.

Replying to a query, he said there is no scope for changing the existing alignment or route of the MRT-6 as it has already been approved.

Quader further said soundproof machine with most modern technologies would be installed in constructing the alignment that would go beside important establishments like Dhaka University Library Building, TSC and National Museum.

The MRT-6 Project is being executed at a cost of about Taka 22,000 crore. Of the amount, the JICA is providing Taka 16,500 crore to the project, while the rest of the fund would come from the Government of Bangladesh (GoB),official sources said.

The fast moving metro rail will run to and from Uttara and Motijheel via Mirpur and Farmgate, carrying 60,000 passengers in an hour touching every station once in every four minutes.

There will be 16 stations - Uttara North, Central and South, Pallabi, Mirpur-11, Mirpur-10, Kaziparha, Taltala, Agargaon, Bijoy Sarani, Farmgate, Sonargaon, National Museum, Doyel Chattar, Bangabandhu National Stadium and Bangladesh Bank.BSS