The country’s first monorail is in Chittagong, agreement signed!

The Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) has taken the initiative to build the country’s first monorail. Orascom and Arab Contractor Group, a joint venture of Germany and Egypt, have come forward to implement this project to reduce traffic congestion in the city.

On Sunday (June 1), a memorandum of understanding was signed between CCC and two foreign companies at the city’s World Trade Center. The signing was attended by CCC Mayor Dr. Shahadat Hossain, top officials of Orascom and Arab Contractor Group, prominent businessmen and representatives of civil society in the city.

According to the agreement, Orascom and Arab Contractor Group are scheduled to start work on a feasibility study for the construction of the monorail.

CCC officials said that the monorail is a modern public transport system that runs on a single rail track. It is usually installed on high pillars. Monorail technology is about 40 percent cost-effective compared to the metro rail. It can be installed in a small space, so it can easily move through densely populated cities or establishments. Although the passenger capacity of the monorail is relatively small, it can be built quickly and is effective in reducing traffic congestion in cities. Currently, monorails are successfully operating in some cities in Japan, China, South Korea, Malaysia and India.

The officials also said that earlier, since 2021, several other foreign companies had proposed to the City Corporation to build monorails. They had met with the then mayor of the City Corporation several times in this regard. But for various reasons, it did not see the light of day.