No allocation for Metrorail maintenance, MD blames contractors for accidents

Staff Correspondent

Despite the lack of separate allocation for maintenance and regular monitoring despite one accident after another on the capital’s metro rail, Faruk Ahmed, Managing Director of Dhaka Metro Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), has placed the responsibility for the accidents on the contractors and consulting firms.

He also said that there may have been a design flaw behind the accident.

The Managing Director of DMTCL made these claims in a briefing on Monday morning.

“After last year’s incident, we conducted inspections physically and through drones. Another inspection was conducted two months ago. Our first task is to ensure safety,” he said.

Calling Japanese technology and construction style into question, he claimed, “There may be errors in the design. Accidents can occur for various reasons, including the use of low-quality materials or a lack of understanding of the work, which can be said with certainty after an investigation.”

He said, “The responsibility of understanding the work was with the consulting firm. There may also be deficiencies due to their inefficiency. There is currently no project director for the Line-1 project, but the process of quickly appointing four or five directors is underway.”

Faruk Ahmed also said, “We have to build the metro ourselves. We want to take the work forward by giving importance to the locals through smart financing. But there is a conflict of interest with the investor. I have been given a 50-year warranty, and I am very helpless there.”

He said that for new projects, designs will be changed if necessary.

Although, according to various media reports, no separate budget has been allocated for the maintenance of the metrorail yet. There is no specific money for this sector in the government budget either. Even the maintenance unit does not have enough engineers and skilled manpower. Regular load-tests and physical inspections have not been carried out.

Some claim that damage to the bearing pads or pillars was not detected due to design flaws and improper measurement of vibration loads.

Economists believe that a culture of under-spending and avoidance of liability is putting the Metrorail’s safety at risk. They say that once the ‘defect liability period’ ends, contractors’ liability becomes limited, leaving actual maintenance responsibilities unclear.

However, the Metrorail authorities claim that an investigation is underway to determine the root cause of the accident.