Dhaka-Gazipur BRT Project Scrapped After 14 Years: Questions Over Thousands of Crores in Infrastructure
The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project began with the dream of fast travel from Dhaka to Gazipur. The plan was that special buses would carry passengers from the airport to Gazipur in just 20 to 30 minutes. But after 14 years, instead of launching that mass transit system, the government has decided to remove the project's special lanes and stations and convert the road into a general highway.
That has raised fresh questions: how much of the infrastructure built for thousands of crores of taka can be used, how much the road conversion will cost, and who bears responsibility for the delays and the failure.
The cabinet decided on 18 October to close the Dhaka-Gazipur BRT project. In a letter sent the next day, the Road Transport and Highways Division said the BRT corridor's stations and lane dividers would be removed and the road converted into a six-lane general highway, three lanes on each side. It also directed that two two-lane overpasses be upgraded to four lanes.
The letter also said legal complications would be resolved through discussions with development partners in order to close the project formally. In other words, the government wants to move towards formal closure by settling contractual matters with foreign partners, not merely by stopping construction.
The project's cost figures themselves paint the picture of failure. The project was first approved at an ECNEC meeting in November 2012 with an initial cost of about Tk 2,040 crore. It was later revised to Tk 4,268 crore. A 2025 proposal to raise the cost to about Tk 6,597 crore and extend the deadline to December 2029 was not approved. According to concerned sources, about Tk 2,811 crore has been spent on the project so far.
In other words, costs rose far beyond the initial allocation, yet the special bus service for which the project was taken up was never fully launched. Now the decision to remove part of the built infrastructure has raised new questions about expenditure and asset use.
Along the roughly 20-kilometre corridor from Dhaka airport to Shib Bari in Gazipur, a dedicated lane was built in the middle of the road for special buses, along with stations for boarding and alighting. The aim was fast travel through a dedicated lane and a modern ticketing system. But prolonged construction meant the expected benefits never came; alongside unfinished stations in various places, there are questions about the use of lifts and escalators in footbridges. Concrete dividers and iron barriers in the middle of the road have also narrowed the travel space in places.
Implementing the conversion now requires technical and financial accounting of which infrastructure will be kept, which demolished, and how the overpasses will be expanded. Pedestrian crossings, drainage, bus stoppages and safe movement must also be ensured.
Passengers want an end to the suffering. Mohammad Abu Hanifa, a resident of the Chandna Chowrasta Dighirchala area of Gazipur, said, 'Because of the BRT project work we have been stuck in traffic jams year after year. I thought once the work finished we would be able to travel quickly. Now I hear the project itself is being closed. I just want to know what came of all these years of suffering and all this money.'
Local resident and former president of the Rotary Club of Gazipur (Banrupa), Md Masum Billah, said, 'We are not hung up on whether special buses or general buses run. We need to reach our destinations on time. Only the sufferers know how much time is wasted every day going to offices or factories. We want to see whether the new decision really reduces traffic jams.'
A proposal to close the Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company, formed to operate the BRT, and bring its activities under the Roads and Highways Department has also been adopted by the cabinet. The concerned offices have been told to submit progress reports within 15 days and, until the work is finished, to report progress by the 3rd of every month.
Tanvir Ahmed, executive engineer of the Gazipur road division, said they have not yet received written instructions on the matter. Action will be taken once the formal letter arrives.
Even after the closure decision, the questions raised over cost escalation, delays, design flaws and safety urgently need to be settled. After long suffering, Gazipur residents expect the new plan not to be limited to merely adding lanes, but to take effective measures to cut congestion, improve public transport and ensure safe travel.
