Toda announced this after a meeting with Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith at his residence on 23 January. The minister reportedly said the metro rail project was included in the Prime Minister’s fast-track development project list for which it would get more speed.
"I will, however, personally give directive to the concerned ministries for speeding up execution of the project," Muhith added.
The construction of 20km of metro rail from north of the Uttara Model Town to the Bangladesh Bank head office is expected to be completed by 2019.
The Japanese government, through JICA, will provide BDT 166bn (USD 2.16bn) of the total project cost of BDT 220bn (USD 2.5bn) as loan at a 0.01 per cent interest rate. The rest will be managed by the Bangladesh government.
