At the time the metro rail construction is nearing completion, a wrong decision with its landing stations is creating uncertainty.
The metro rail authority is saying they have already got the solution while different area landowners say they will not leave land if they do not get appropriate money for it.
A cold war with the city authorities over the stairs, lifts and escalators is continuing with the metro rail. Metro rail stations were built without deciding where the stairs and lifts of the metro rail will be constructed. The authority does not have the plan where they will place their landing stations at Pallabi, Kazipara and Shewrapara. The dispute with the city authorities started when the metro authorities decided to land the stairs on the footpaths.
Half of the capital’s eight-foot-long sidewalks have long since fallen into the hands of influential people. And now if the metro rail authority constructs seven feet wide stairs for their stations over the footpath, pedestrian movement will be impossible in those particular areas.
After a lot of turmoil, the complexity ice has finally started to melt, said managing director of the project, MAN Siddique.
Meanwhile, despite the talk of acquiring land and constructing stairs, the landowners said that there has not been much progress in the last few months except for measurement. Many are worried about the future of the building and the business if it is re-acquired.
Concerned people said that there is a mistake in the planning for passengers to travel to the metro station. Arrangements were not made to accommodate the passengers. The opportunity to walk towards the station has been left out. There will be no way for passengers to come and go as the stairs from the three-storey station go directly to the sidewalk.
Despite eight years since the start of the project, these issues have been dropped. So the initiative was taken to acquire land. But acquiring land in this densely populated city is quite hard. The city corporation has also objected to constructing the stairs on the sidewalks.
Public transport expert Shamsul Haque said that the cost of the metrorail project has increased due to inefficiency. However, he hopes that if Metrorail is launched after overcoming all the complications, the suffering of the city dwellers will be reduced.
