For quite a few years now Dhaka has been bubbling with restrained with the prospect of having a mass transportation system underground or over the ground it hardly mattered as the city’s traffic situation has been rapidly deteriorating what with government every sauce in the larder to make traveling a little more bearable and, if possible, pleasant. The consequence has been greater and louder demand for a modern system akin to that of other megacities.

Give our questionable record in evaluating human life, more specifically with regard to city provisions and construction works, it is an essential to address associated issues such as safety, fire, noise, air quality, etc, during construction and after commissioning of the project involving thousands of people round the clock. The experiences of all other cities will be useful and that of an Asian city closer to home with similar soil condition, population density, and built-up infrastructure will be especially pertinent.

It will be useful to remember that the transportation problem cannot be resolved by linear means, such as the introduction of one hundred buses and double-deckers. The scheme of Mass Rapid Transit (as the system has been coined) requires garnering all related modes of transportation - bus, rail (under and over the ground), water - so that the options are wide and effective.