Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Saturday said the work on metro rail project in the capital will begin at the end of the next month.

‘The first-phase work of the project will be completed by 2019 although the initial deadline for completing the work was 2024, said the minister at a roundtable titled ‘Padma Bridge: new lifeline of development’ at the Daily Star building in the city.

Over the recent human chain programme against the proposed metro rail route through the Dhaka University campus, he said the university authorities approved the proposal four years back.

‘Why they are organising human chain after four years. It’s a big project, if its work is disrupted once, it won’t be implemented in time,’ Quader added.

About the Padma Bridge project, the minister said that now its construction is no more a challenge but there are some challenges in the river training work as the flow of the Padma River is unpredictable like the Amazon River.

He said the construction work of the mega project with the country’s own fund has honoured the country across the globe.