A consortium of companies has been appointed as a general consultant to carry out the feasibility study, detailed design and procurement work for another metro rail planned to be constructed from Gabtoli to Dasherkandi in the city.

The 17.4-kilometre route, southern part of the mass rapid transit (MRT) line-5, would have 12.8 kilometres underground and 4.6 km elevated lines.

The EGIS Rail SA of France will work as the lead partner for the Tk 4.08 billion work of the MRT-5 South. Other partners are: Oriental Consultant Global Company Limited of Japan and SMEC International Pty Ltd of Australia and Egis India Consulting Engineers Pvt Ltd.

The ACE Consultants Ltd Bangladesh and Dev Consultants Ltd Bangladesh will work as sub-consultants.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) signed a contract with the Egis Rail SA at its office on Monday. DMTCL Managing Director MAN Siddique and authorised representative of EGIS Rail SA and country director of Egis India Consulting Engineers Pascal Ligneres signed the contract on behalf of their respective sides.

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader and French Ambassador to Bangladesh Jean-Marin Schuh joined the ceremony virtually and spoke on the occasion.

Among others, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary Nazrul Islam and Project Director Mohammad Abdul Wahab also joined.

The minister said the city is likely to get six MRTs by 2030 with a total of 128 kilometres of lines, including 61 km underground lines.

He said that as per planning, MRT 5 north and south have been planned to be completed by 2028 and added that construction work of MRT 6 is progressing fast while the MRT 1 and MRT 5 North and South remained at preparatory stage.

Amid starting of the second wave of coronavirus in the country, the minister urged all concerned to maintain the work speed with keeping safe treatment facilities.

The French Ambassador said EGIS is the first engineering company in France and leader in automatic metro by building 1,750 km metro line design worldwide. He thanked the government for selecting the French company in the work of metro rail in the city centre.

The DMTCL managing director said that as the MRT 5 South route has been selected after a pre-feasibility study, the joint venture firm will carry out feasibility study to finalise the route with specific sites for stations to be selected during the detailed design work.

Later, the farm will support the DMTCL in preparing the tender documents by finalising package works during its three years of tenure.

The DMTCL has already made some progress to start the MRT line-5 northern part with the financial support of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Its basic design work is now going on. Asian Development Bank is supporting the southern part of the MRT 5.

So far six MRT lines are being developed in the city's different corridors as per recommendation of the strategic transport plan.

The DMTCL has been planned to implement MRT line 2 and 4 under the public-private partnership.

According to pre-feasibility study, the MRT 5 South will start from Gabtoli to Dasherkandi-Balipara through Technical, Kallyanpur, Shyamoli, College Gate, Asad Gate, Russell Square, Karwan Bazar, Hatirjheel West, Tejgaon, Niketon, Aftabnagar West, Aftabnagar Centre and Aftabnagar East.