The government will launch a study to find possible routes for mass transit network (MTN), which may include one or more metro rail lines and dedicated bus service lines, in Chattogram metropolitan area. 

Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) has recently submitted a project proposal for carrying out the pre-feasibility study, at a cost of around Tk 21 crore. The internal evaluation committee held a meeting on the proposal on December 15, with Nazrul Islam, secretary of Road Transport and Highways Division, in chair.

The meeting asked DTCA to complete the study within June 2021, six months earlier than what DTCA had proposed, sources said. Once the study is completed, feasibility study, detail design and other necessary work would be done before approving any construction project, they said.

The development came more than a year after Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that a feasibility study for a metro rail project in Chattogram city will begin soon.

The government is implementing a time-bound working plan for building a 128.74km network, consisting of six lines in Dhaka and its adjacent areas, within 2030. Physical work of Mass Rapid Transit-6 (MRT-6), the first metro rail in Dhaka, has witnessed 53 percent progress till November.

The Tk 22,000 crore project is being implemented between Uttara Third Phase and Motijheel, and authorities are expected to open the metro rail in December next year.

Talking to reporters on October 15 last year, Quader said, "The prime minister has asked me to start feasibility study for metro rail project in Chattogram city." He asked the ministry secretary and all officials concerned to begin feasibility study immediately.

"We have submitted the proposal following the ministry's instruction," said Khandakar Rakibur Rahman, executive director of DTCA.

He said metro rail projects in Dhaka are being implemented following the revised Strategic Transport Plan (STP) for Dhaka metropolitan area. But there is no such plan for Chattogram city.

"The study is for preparing a transport masterplan for port city," he said. "It would also be carried out for building metro rail there."

A DTCA official, however, said while they want to prepare a comprehensive transport masterplan, doing so will take a long time. Therefore, the ministry currently has them focused on MTN, he told The Daily Star, wishing not to be named.

He said the MTN may include one or more metro lines and BRT lines. "Under the study, consultants would carry out traffic surveys to determine daily traffic and find suitable routes."

Chattogram city is the second largest city of the country, and traffic jams are common there.

Citing national census of 2011, Chattogram City Corporation, on its website, said some 7.3 million people live in Chattogram metropolitan area, while 6 million live in CCC, which covers 155.4 square kilometres. When AJM Nasir Uddin was its mayor, CCC held a meeting around one-and-a-half years ago with experts on metro rail issues. But experts said it would be difficult to implement metro rail there due to "unplanned construction" of three flyovers and an elevated expressway.