The India-Bangladesh development partnership has grown significantly in recent years.
Under India’s Lines of Credit (LOC) programme, four LOCs worth USD 7.862 billion were extended to Bangladesh for various development projects in a wide array of sectors.
It is expected that, within next June, India will release USD 1 billion under its ongoing LOCs. Until now total disbursements as of 25 October are approximately USD 865 million. Under the first LOC of USD 862 million, 12 out of 15 projects have already been completed and 3 projects are under execution.
Under the second LOC of USD 2 billion, two projects are already complete and the other projects are under various stages of implementation. Under the third LOC of USD 4.5 billion, 1 project has reached execution stage, while the other projects are under various stages of DPP finalisation and tendering.
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This was stated by Pankaj Kumar Singh, Adviser (Infrastructure) to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs at a press briefing held at the Indian Embassy in Dhaka. The briefing was given after the 19th Bangladesh-India LOC evaluation meeting.
Pankaj Kumar Singh said, “There is considerable improvement in the speed of projects reaching execution/tendering stage which has been made possible with active cooperation of the project-executing agencies of both sides and with the extensive coordination efforts between the Economic Relation Department (ERD) and the Indian High Commission.”
“With the award of more than USD 990.85 million worth of contracts under the Indian LOCs during the past three years, and another USD 325.58 million being finalized within the next few months, the utilization rate of LOCs is set to increase significantly in the near future,” .
About the LOC Review Meeting, both sides expressed satisfaction with the robust cooperation on LOC projects. The two delegation heads appreciated the fact that all stakeholders on LOC projects are in constant touch, hold frequent and detailed review meetings and are making all efforts for the expeditious execution of projects.
A detailed discussion was held, Line Ministry-wise, to review project progress. Existing issues with project implementation and possible resolution mechanisms were identified. Detailed timelines were determined for all steps involved in project implementation.
Indian Ministry of External Affairs Joint Secretary (DPA-I) Sridharan Madhusudhanan led the Indian delegation and the Bangladesh delegation was led by ERD Additional Secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky. Representatives of Indian companies executing the LOC projects in Bangladesh also participated in the meeting.