Bangladesh signs deals with Chinese, Thai firms for metro ra

The Bangladeshi government has signed three deals with Chinese and Thai firms on the country's first-ever metro rail project.

Dhaka Mass Transit company Limited (DMTCL), a Bangladeshi state-owned enterprise founded to implement the metro rail lines across the Dhaka city, signed the separate contract packages (CPs) including CP-2, CP-3 and CP-4 worth over 58.26 billion taka (about 719 million U.S. dollars) with the firms, Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited, a Thailand-based construction firm, and Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corporation Limited.

Under the deals, the firms will build metro rail tracks, stations and depot of the long cherished 20.1-km Mass rapid Transit (MRT) Line-6 that will link north Dhaka with the south through 16 stations.

According to the project, the package CP-2 is for the civil and building works of the Depot, CP-3 and CP-4 is for the construction of metro rail tracks and elevated stations.

Officials of DMTCL, Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited, a Thailand-based construction firm, and Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed the agreements on behalf of their respective sides at a ceremony on Wednesday in capital Dhaka.

Sinohydro signed the deal worth 15.96 billion taka for CP-2 while Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited signed deal for all the three packages.