Dhaka's long-awaited metro rail link from Motijheel to Kamalapur is rapidly taking shape, with officials confirming that 60.43% of construction work has been completed. The 1.16-kilometre extension, part of MRT Line-6, is expected to transform the city's public transport system when launched. Authorities are pushing to finish civil construction by June next year and complete all electrical, signalling, and track work by mid-2027.
The Cabinet-approved project, launched as an extension of Bangladesh's first mass rapid transit line, is seeing work proceed "day and night," according to Metro Line-6 Project Director Md Zakaria.
He told the Daily Observer that physical progress on the Motijheel-Kamalapur section is on track to meet deadlines.
At the Kamalapur site, an employee who wished to remain unnamed said the elevated structure and station should be completed by December 2025. However, installing the rail tracks, electrical systems, and signalling will take an additional year, pushing full operational readiness to mid-2027.
Recently, newly appointed DMTCL Managing Director Engineer Farooq Ahmed inspected the construction and urged all stakeholders to intensify efforts to meet the December 2025 target for structural work.
According to project updates, all station columns are now complete, along with 298 precast sections prepared at the construction yard. Of the 27 required spans, 17 have already been lifted. In addition, the 180-metre concourse roof, 180-metre track slab, and 180-metre platform slab have been cast, alongside 824 precast parapet walls.
Following the signing of an agreement with JICA this month, the contractor will proceed with installing the track and signalling system for the section.
MRT Line-6 runs 21.26 km from Uttara Diabari through Mirpur, Farmgate, and Motijheel, ending at Kamalapur. Commercial operations between Uttara and Motijheel began in November 2023, covering 20.1 km and 16 stations. The Kamalapur extension will add one more station, bringing the total to 17.
After prolonged negotiations with contractors, the extension's cost was cut from Tk 6.51 billion to Tk 4.65 billion-about 29% less than the original quotation. The revised budget awaits government approval this month.
The civil construction is being handled by Thailand's Italian-Thai Development Public Company and Bangladesh's McDonald Steel, both of which have worked on previous segments of the metro rail. The Italian-Thai company was responsible for the Uttara-Agargaon stretch, while Japan's Tekken and Sumitomo Mitsui handled the Agargaon-Motijheel section.
