The widening of Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh road will boost two-way trade between Bangladesh and India as well as regional trade of Bangladesh through the Sabroom-Ramgarh land customs station (LCS).
This was said at the ground breaking ceremony for the project for “Widening of Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh Road” on Wednesday.
The project is being taken up under Government of India’s third Concessional Line of Credit of $4.5 billion extended to the Government of Bangladesh.
For the virtual ceremony held at Sarak Bhaban, Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader was the Chief Guest, and High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh Pranay Verma along with Secretary, Road Transport and Highways Division A.B.M. Amin Ullah Nuri participated as Special Guests.
The physical ground breaking ceremony was held for work package 1 with senior officials of Roads and Highways Division present on site.
Speaking on the occasion, High Commissioner Pranay Verma highlighted the priority accorded by Government of India and Government of Bangladesh to building critical connectivity infrastructure.
He noted that the India-Bangladesh bilateral relationship had touched new heights across all sectors in recent times, and that Bangladesh was India’s largest development partner both in terms of value and number of projects, with nearly 10 billion dollars extended under concessional financing.
More than $2 billion has been contracted till date and disbursements crossed the milestone of $1 billion during the year 2022.
He expressed appreciation for the fact that India had emerged as the fastest and largest disburser among the development partners of Bangladesh during the most challenging pandemic period.
The High Commissioner emphasised the importance of projects in the roads and highways sector, with five projects worth $932 million i.e., 12% of the total commitment under implementation by the Roads and Highways Department.
Additionally, three supply projects worth $91 million for supply of double-decker, single-decker, AC and non-AC buses and heavy-duty trucks have already been completed, thereby taking India’s total project commitment in the roads and highways sector to over $1 billion.
The Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh road widening project, at a total project cost of $80.06 million under Government of India Line of Credit, envisages the widening of approximately 38 kms of the Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh road in Ramgarh upazila under Khagrachari district and would contribute to improvement of the road network between the Chattogram port and the Ramgarh Land Port.
Additionally, with Government of India funded India-Bangladesh Maitree Friendship Bridge on Feni River having already been constructed, this road project will boost two-way trade between Bangladesh and India as well as regional trade of Bangladesh through the Sabroom-Ramgarh LCS, the High Commission of India said in a statement.