Did govt pick the worst option to scrap BRT?

The decision was taken at an 18 October cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, where ministers approved the fourth of four alternatives placed by the Road Transport and Highways Division. The cabinet also moved to dissolve Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit PLC, the state-owned company formed in 2013 to operate the service, transferring its responsibilities to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD).

In choosing a conventional highway, the cabinet rejected three transit-focused alternatives: completing the remaining 3% of civil works to launch full BRT services, gradually introducing public transport via route franchising, and converting the stretch into a toll-based expressway.

The move comes despite the cabinet’s own meeting minutes acknowledging that a dedicated BRT lane can carry 20,000 passengers per hour, four times the 5,000-passenger capacity of a conventional mixed-traffic lane.

To accommodate mixed traffic, the cabinet approved removing the existing BRT stations, lane dividers, and related structures, while upgrading two existing two-lane overpasses into four-lane structures. Authorities have been directed to consult development partners, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the French Development Agency (AFD), to resolve legal complexities and formally close the project.

Dr Md Musleh Uddin Hasan, a professor of Urban and Regional Planning at Buet whose proposal to finish the project was rejected by the cabinet, told TBS that the corridor cannot legally or functionally be treated as a highway.

“When the stretch was originally declared a highway, Dhaka city extended only as far as Mohakhali,” he said. “The city has since expanded to Gazipur, making it inappropriate to designate a road running through an urban area as a highway.”

A decade of delays and a stalled 3%

Launched in 2012, the project faced repeated delays and cost escalations, which ministry documents attributed to the difficulty of constructing eight flyovers, including the 4.5km, 10-lane Tongi Bridge, and widening a live, heavily congested highway.

Under the third revised Development Project Proposal (DPP), the project’s approved cost stood at Tk4,268.32 crore, funded by the ADB (Tk2,118.95 crore), AFD (Tk903.49 crore), and the Bangladesh government (Tk1,245.88 crore).

When the third revised DPP expired on 31 December 2024, roughly Tk2,810 crore had been spent. While 97% of civil works, including most lanes, stations, terminals, and depots, were finished, overall physical progress stood at 77.48%, largely because bus procurement had stalled despite Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit PLC completing tender evaluations and recruiting operational staff.

On 27 July 2025, a revised DPP seeking a deadline extension to finish the remaining 3% was placed before the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec), chaired by then-chief adviser of the interim government Muhammad Yunus. Ecnec declined to approve the extension, directing officials to explore alternative implementation models instead.

How the four options emerged

Following Ecnec’s directive, the government formed two committees led by Buet civil engineering professor Shamsul Hoque, whose reports were later reviewed by a Buet expert team. On 29 March, the team recommended operating the corridor as a toll-based expressway.

PM Tarique Rahman subsequently consulted transport experts on 14 June. During those discussions, experts put forward four alternatives for consideration.

At the meeting, Md Hadiuzzaman, another civil engineering professor at Buet, proposed a phased rollout of the public transport system on the existing BRT lanes.

Buet’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning professor and urban transport expert Md Musleh Uddin Hasan recommended finishing the remaining 3% of work to launch the BRT as planned, a demand backed by several social and civic organisations in Gazipur.

Other stakeholders lobbied the ministry to scrap the BRT and convert the road into a six-lane conventional highway.

The options

The Road Transport and Highways Division synthesised these viewpoints into four formal options for the 18 October cabinet meeting.

The first option was to complete the remaining 3% of infrastructure work, procure buses and install an Intelligent Transport System to launch the country’s first BRT service.

The second proposed using existing infrastructure, including stations, terminals and depots, to introduce public transport through route franchising under Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit. 

Limited investment would be needed to complete the remaining work and modify existing buses, with full-fledged BRT services introduced gradually using better-quality buses, it said.

The third proposed converting the corridor into a toll-based expressway, with high-speed vehicles using central lanes and others using mixed-traffic lanes to help recover costs.

The fourth proposed removing BRT stations, lane dividers and related infrastructure to create a conventional six-lane highway.

The cabinet approved the fourth option, also deciding to upgrade two existing two-lane overpasses into four-lane structures.

Experts warn move is ‘illogical and self-defeating’

The decision has drawn sharp pushback from urban planners, architects, and transport specialists, who argue that abandoning mass transit infrastructure on the brink of completion wastes public funds and worsens congestion.

At a press conference at the National Press Club on Wednesday, the Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP), the Institute of Architects Bangladesh, Work for a Better Bangladesh Trust, and a Gazipur heritage platform termed the cancellation “illogical and self-defeating”, noting the government pulled the plug before even procuring buses for the completed lanes.

The groups placed an eight-point demand, calling for the 18 October decision to be reversed, an independent inquiry commission to investigate project irregularities, and the publication of a white paper. They also urged the government to designate the Airport-Gazipur route as an “urban artery” rather than a highway.