Desk Report,
Metrorail’s revenue is not enough to cover loan installments
Dhaka’s metro rail is now crowded with passengers. Especially during the busy office hours and holidays, many are unable to board the metro rail on the first attempt. Even then, the income generated by the metro rail from passenger fares cannot be used to repay the loan.
Metrorail’s revenue is not enough to cover loan installments
This idea has been found by analyzing the current income stream of the metro rail and the amount of loan installments. Metro rail officials and experts say that the government will have to repay the loan with subsidies.
Currently, the metro rail is running from Uttara to Motijheel. An average of four lakh passengers travel per day. Work is underway to expand the metro rail from Motijheel to Kamalapur. The name of this metro rail line is MRT-6. The government has planned to build five more metro rails. Currently, analyzing the income and loan installments of the metro rail, it has been found that the unaudited (provisional) income from ticket sales in the last fiscal year was about Tk 400 crore. There, 465 crore to 740 crore taka will have to be paid as loan installments annually until 2030-31. The MRT-6 project proposal states that trains will run every three and a half minutes during peak hours. Now, trains run at intervals of 8-12 minutes. In addition, the metro rail does not run after 10 pm.
An analysis of the current income and loan installments of the metro rail shows that the unaudited (provisional) income from ticket sales in the last fiscal year was around 400 crore taka. There, 465 crore to 740 crore taka will have to be paid as loan installments annually until 2030-31.
Experts say that the government has still waived VAT on metro rail travel. Even so, the passenger fare of Dhaka’s metro rail is higher than that of neighboring countries. In this situation, there is little opportunity to increase income by increasing the fare. There is also an opportunity to increase income by increasing the movement of the metro rail, providing car parking near the station and renting out shopping malls. In 2012, a project was taken up to build a metro rail from Uttara to Mirpur and Motijheel via Farmgate. In the first phase, the metro rail from Uttara to Agargaon was launched on December 28, 2022. The Agargaon to Motijheel section was launched on November 4, 2023. Initially, there was a plan to build this metro rail up to Motijheel, but later it was extended to Kamalapur. Now the total cost of the project stands at Tk 33,472 crore. About 59 percent of this money has been taken as a loan from the Japanese international development agency JICA.
Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL) is responsible for the construction and operation of the metro rail in Dhaka. The company’s Managing Director (MD) Faruk Ahmed told Prothom Alo that manpower is being recruited to increase the number of trains and ensure more metro rail operations. Efforts are being made to reduce unnecessary costs. Apart from ticket sales, efforts are being made to increase income by allocating shops in unused areas of stations.
