The government has initiated a new project to develop the country’s two important land ports – Benapole and Burimari – as part of the regional road connectivity programme under the South Asia Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB).
‘The SASEC road connectivity programme is a big development plan to establish links between Bangladesh, India, Bhutan and Nepal that will spur economic growth and development across these countries,’ a senior official of the Planning Commission told New Age.
The PC has meanwhile prepared a project proposal to get approval from the Executive Committee of National Economic Council soon, he said.
Total cost of the project was proposed to be Tk 168.3 crore including Tk 143.95 crore as loan from ADB while the government will finance Tk 24.8 crore from its own resources.
The Bangladesh Land Port Authority (BLPA) under the Water Transport ministry will implement the project by December 2016.
The loan agreement was already signed between ADB and Bangladesh at Economic Relations Division on June 5, 2013. Another agreement will be signed between the finance ministry and BLPA after getting the project approved by ECNEC, sources said.
PC officials also said Benapole land port is the busiest port which is situated at the west side of the Asian highways-1 and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) highway corridor-1.
On the other side, Burimari land port is also situated between Dhaka-north western corridor of the SAARC highways corridor-8 and by the entrance of Bhutan through India.
The Burmari land port is one of the northwestern end points of the Dhaka-Northwest corridor, providing a gateway to Bhutan through India via SHC 8.
Benapole and Burimari land ports handle the huge quantity of goods transported between Bangladesh and India, and through India, to and from Bhutan and Nepal.
More than 90 per cent of trade between Bangladesh and India are settled through the Benapole and Burimari ports among the country’s 16 land ports which are controlled by the BLPA.
‘Therefore, the government is emphasizing on developing these two land ports of the country,’ a PC official said.
The project will also expand and develop a 70-kilometer road of the Dhaka-Northwest highways between Joydevpur, Chandra, Tangail and Elenga which is the second busiest arterial route in the country.
ADB approved SASEC road connectivity project for Bangladesh on November 22, 2012. Under the project, ADB signed a loan agreement with Bangladesh to provide $198 million at Economic Relations Division in Dhaka on June 5, 2013.
-With New Age input
