Metro rail staffers get two Covid-19 field hospitals
With hopes of boosting morale of engineers and workers, the metro rail project authorities have opened two field hospitals for their staffers infected with coronavirus.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader virtually inaugurated the hospitals at a programme yesterday, said a press release.
They were set up at Gabtoli and Panchabati to improve Covid management at the project sites, the minister said.
In Uttara's Panchabati Construction Yard, a 14-bed hospital was set up, while another 10-bed hospital was established at Gabtoli Construction Yard.
The minister said necessary staffers, including doctors and nurses, have already been recruited for the hospitals, along with the installation of equipment including cardiac monitors and oxygen cylinders following health department's approval.
He also urged the project authorities to accelerate works at the Agargaon-Motijheel section to reduce public suffering.
The project -- formally known as the Mass Rapid Transit-6 or MRT Line-6 -- is being implemented to build an elevated rail line from the capital's Uttara Third Phase to Motijheel at the cost of Tk 22,000 crore. Once completed, the metro rail will carry 60,000 passengers per hour.
However, physical work for the project came to a grinding halt after the government shutdown the economy in late March to contain the spread of Covid-19. Executives of the project are now hoping to speed up the construction works.
Overall, the project has progressed 49.15 percent till August.
Quader yesterday said steps have been taken to build metro rail and a transport masterplan for Chattogram. The government has also taken decisions to enact a transport masterplan for Narayanganj, he added.
Among others, Nazrul Islam, secretary of Road Transport and Highway Division, and MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd (DMTCL), which is implementing the project, were present at the programme.
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