Bangladesh-Myanmar link road survey to begin soon
Dhaka is set to begin a survey on the proposed Bangladesh-Myanmar link road this month with the consent of Yangon.
The communications ministry has already requested the foreign affairs ministry to seek opinions of the Myanmar authorities in this regard, said a senior official concerned.
Dhaka may take up the issue of the proposed direct road link between the two neighbours for discussion with the vice-senior general Maung Aye, the vice-chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, who is scheduled to arrive in Dhaka this morning on a three-day official visit.
“The survey on the proposed Bangladesh-Myanmar link road will begin soon” The construction work may begin in the middle of 2008,” the communications secretary, Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, told New Age in his office on Monday.
The contract for conducting the study and cost estimation of the trans-boundary road by March 2009 will be signed soon as the evaluation of the proposals was under process, official sources in the communications ministry said, adding that five consulting firms were short-listed for proposal submission.
Eight firms submitted expression of interest for the survey in response to the advertisement by the Roads and Highways Department.
The interim administration of Fakhruddin Ahmed after assuming office in January 2007 expedited the previous government’s move to establish the direct road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar to boost trade and commerce between the two neighbours.
The Planning Commission on March 10, 2008 approved an estimated fund of Tk 4.97 crore for the survey.
The governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar earlier signed a memorandum of understanding on April 4, 2004 to initially construct the 25km link road two kilometres in Bangladesh and 23 kilometres in Myanmar at an estimated cost of Tk 195.85 crore.
Later in July 2007, the two governments signed another agreement on the proposed road communication between Myanmar and Bangladesh, to be financed by Dhaka.
The project area includes Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and the Arakan province of Myanmar. As per the memorandum of understanding, two task forces ‘technical and financial’ were commissioned for the proposed link road.
The Bangladesh-Myanmar Direct Link Road Project has been initiated by communications ministry of the government of Bangladesh and the Roads and Highways Department is the implementing authority of the project.
Category: Development, South Asia
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Justice Radhabinod Palwas born in 1886 at a small village Salimpur of Kusthia district. He studied mathmatics and constitutional law at Presidency College, Kolkata and the law college of unversity of calcutta. The Indian Government installed him as a legal Advisor in 1927and dispatched him to the Tokyo Trials in 1946. He was elected to the United Nations International Law Commission.