Myanmar has agreed to a proposal for construction of a tri-nation highway connecting Chittagong and the Chinese city of Kunming through Myanmar, the Chinese ambassador in Dhaka said.
‘Myanmar has now agreed to the Chinese government’s proposal for connecting Chittagong with Kunming through Myanmar,’ the state minister for forests and environment, Hasan Mahmud, told reporters after a meeting with Chinese ambassador Zhang Xianyi at his office on Tuesday.
Myanmar had kept its decision pending to a similar proposal made by Bangladesh earlier, the minister said.
The Chinese diplomat called on the state minister apparently for inviting him to China to attend global talks on climate change to be held on October 4-9.
Construction of proposed friendship road between Dhaka and Yangon got stuck as the military-ruled Myanmar showed no response to Dhaka’s proposal.
Yangon was apparently reluctant to go ahead with Dhaka’s proposal for establishing the road link between the two bordering countries which was planned to connect China as well, eventually to establish a link with the Asian Highway.
Earlier in March, prime minister Sheikh Hasina discussed the issue with Chinese President Hu Jintao during her official visit to China.
‘The two sides agreed to enhance transport links and to continue to discuss the possibility of building road links between the two countries,’ a joint communiqué issued on March 19 during Hasina’s visit to China, said.
Hasan Mahmud said, ‘We could not make any significant progress in construction of the proposed cross-border link road due to lack of positive response from the Myanmar side.’
The ambassador also conveyed his government’s willingness to provide support in the construction of the planned ‘deep sea port’ at Sonadia in Chittagong, he said.
‘China also wants to work in collaboration with Bangladesh to tackle the effects of climate change. It has, therefore, invited a delegation from Bangladesh to China to hold bilateral discussions on the issue,’ the state minister said.
Former prime minister Khaleda Zia had proposed to build the highway during her visit to Myanmar in 2003 as part of a ‘Look East Policy’ to be connected with Myanmar, Thailand, China and other South-East Asian countries.
In 2004, the head of the Myanmar government visited Bangladesh and laid the foundation of the 153-kilometre road in Teknaf, the southeastern tip of the country.
The proposed road project is divided in two phases. The first phase includes construction of a 43 km road—20 km inside Bangladesh and 23 km in Myanmar side—linking Guandhum in Cox’s Bazar with Baulibazar in Myanmar.
Dhaka agreed to bear construction cost of the first phase at Tk 274 crore. In July 2007, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal in Dhaka on the first-phase construction of the friendship road after four years of negotiation.
The constriction cost of the 110-km second phase between Taungbro to Kyauktaw in Myanmar side has been estimated to cost around Tk 7.0 billion.
