UNB, Dhaka:

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday morning visited the vandalised metro rail station at Mirpur 10.

She inspected different parts of the station which was totally devastated in the recent mayhem centering the student movement for reformation of quota in public service.

Senior officials of the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) briefed the PM  regarding the destruction and the future plan to reopen the Mirpur-10 and Kazipara stations.

Some unidentified people went on a rampage at Mirpur-10 and Kazipara metro stations last Friday causing significant damages.

Metro rail services were suspended on July 18 amid demonstrations by students demanding quota reform in public service.

Officials at DMTCL indicated that the reopening schedule will be declared once the inquiry committee, formed to assess the damages, submits its report within 10 working days.

The inquiry committee was formed on July 22 to assess the extent of the damages to the metro rail and to determine when it can be made operational again.

Additional Secretary Mohammad Zakaria, who is additional director of the metro rail MRT Line-6 project, is leading the committee.

The government opened the metro station for public on March 01, 2023), nearly two months after the inauguration of the country’s much-awaited metro rail.

The main construction work of the project started in 2017.

The cost of the country’s first ever metro rail project stood at Tk 33,472 crore. Notably, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)  provided Tk 19,719 crore in the form of a loan to support the project, while the Government of Bangladesh funded the remaining amount.

In the beginning, the estimated cost of this project was about Tk 21,000 crore. The cost increased due to the construction of an additional 1.6 km section from Motijheel to Kamalapur, acquisition of new land for each station, and the addition of various new facilities.

The prime minister formally inaugurated the Uttara-Agargaon section of MRT-6 line of the Metro Rail on December 28, 2022.