Dhaka's ambitious metro rail project reached a significant milestone with the opening of the Karwan Bazar and Shahbagh metro rail stations on Sunday.

This achievement marks the completion of all 16 stations along the Dhaka metro rail route, extending from Uttara North to Motijheel.

The last two stations of the Dhaka metro line opened in the morning, and from now on, the metro rail service will make stoppages at all stations.

The service will be operational from 7:30am to 11:30am from Uttara to Motijheel, while the section from Uttara to Agargaon will run from 7:30am to 8:30pm.

Earlier on December 13, the Bijoy Sarani and Dhaka University stations on the Agargaon-Motijheel metro rail section opened to the public.

Metro rail project

The cost of the country’s first-ever metro rail project stands at Tk33,472 crore. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided Tk19,719 crore in the form of a loan to support the project, while the Government of Bangladesh funded the remaining amount.

In the beginning, the estimated cost of this project was about Tk21,000 crore. The cost has increased due to the construction of an additional 1.6 km section from Motijheel to Kamalapur, the acquisition of new land for each station, and the addition of various new facilities.

The main construction work of the project started in 2017.