The government is planning to transform Kamalapur into a ‘Multi Modal Transport Hub’ to tackle the possible chaos and massive increase of influx of passengers, official sources said. As the government’s multi-billion dollar communication projects of mass rapid transit (MRT), expressway and bus rapid transit (BRT), is about to belaunched, the already very busy area will likely become the busiest and most chaotic.
Stakeholders and communication experts believe Dhaka’s traffic system will rapidly change with the introduction of MRT, expressway, and BRT, for the better. The proposed hub will be modelled like the ones in the developed world to provide state-of-the-art passenger services.
This hub will be the first in the country to bring roads and railway communications at the same vantage point around the Kamalapur station so that passengers can quickly hop off from one mode of transportation on to another.
A similar hub is also being planned to surround the Dhaka Airport Railway Station, sources said. “A multi-storey railway station will be built in the underground of the building to serve the metro rail, subway, elevated expressway and BRT passengers,” said Project Director Al Fattah Md Masudur Rahman.
The government of Bangladesh has signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan to implement the project. Both Dhaka and Tokyo have set a deadline of 2030 to implement it under a public-private partnership (PPP).
A consortium, led by Japan’s Kajima Corporation, has been formed as well with Nippon Koei and Oriental Consultants Global, both also from the Far Eastern nation, as junior partners. Masudur Rahman said that a feasibility survey has been commissioned and a proposal for financing submitted to the World Bank.
Under the Kamalapur hub plan, Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD) will be relocated and a 60-storey multi-purpose building will be built in its place. New buildings and a multidimensional station for the Kamalapur hub will cost $574 million, while the Airport Railway Station hub will cost $220 million.
A multimodal transport hub is a large area where many routes of different transportation and communication system meet. Passengers can use it to interchange their preferred mode of transportation to travel to their destinations. It saves time and increases the capacity of the transport sector.
As part of the preparations for these hubs around Kamalapur and Dhaka Airport Railway Station, projects to modernise the Dhaka-Chattogram rail transport corridor will also be undertaken, according to the PPP Authority’s website.
The existing infrastructure of Kamalapur Railway Station will also be shifted elsewhere.The planned 60-storey building will have food and shopping marts as well as hotels for the waiting passengers. Plans are also underway to develop multifaceted commercial areas including shopping complexes in the vast scope of this building.
Kamalapur is home to the largest and busiest railway station in Bangladesh and at least 115,000 passengers use the facilities every day for travelling.
