Government plans another metro rail from Airport to Kamalapur via Purbachal

After the country's first metro rail from Uttara to Motijheel, now under implementation, the government is planning to construct another metro rail from Airport to Kamalapur linking Purbachal to make the city's road transport system more safe, modern and environment-friendly. the feasibility study for the project has already been completed where the route has been proposed at Airport-Khilkhet-Natun Bazar-Badda-Malibagh-Kamalapur while another route would go to Jamuna Future Park-Bashundhara-Purbachal. The main project operations include consultation services for system design of the 27-kilometer route as a consulting firm will be appointed by the Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited to conduct the operations of detailed engineering design tender assistance.

The government will bring 400,000 more people under the old age allowance programme in the Social Safety Net scheme in next fiscal year (2016-19). The government is providing 3.5 million elderly people with $237 million under the Social Safety Net programme while 400,000 more people will be brought under the programme in the next fiscal year. Every senior citizen is getting US$ 5 per month under the programme and the number of the beneficiaries is increasing every year.

International inspection agencies said safety conditions in the country's $30 billion garment industry have improved dramatically since the Rana Plaza disaster, thanks to efforts by entrepreneurs, retailers and brands. In the aftermath of that disaster, local garment entrepreneurs put more than $1billion to remediate the factories for preventing such tragedies in future. As per the recommendations of the inspection agencies, three bodies, including Accord, Alliance and National Initiative, were formed to fix three kinds of “loopholes” relating to the structural, fire and electrical issues. Accord currently has approximately 1,625 covered supplier factories. Some 88,443 safety hazards, in total, were identified in Accord's initial inspections of these factories. Some 74,386 of these safety hazards have been fixed.

Bangladesh will sign an agreement with Cambodia at the end of June to increase bilateral trade in the run up to HPM Sheikh Hasina’s visit last year in that country. Cambodia can import medicines, leather products and jute goods from Bangladesh. An agreement and nine memoranda of understanding were signed to boost bilateral trade during that visit. The MoUs were signed for cooperation in tourism, information and communication technology, institutional cooperation under the joint trade council and collaboration in implementation of sustainable development goals.