High Commissioner’s Remarks

At the Seminar on

Ground-Breaking Ceremony of “Widening of Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh Road Project” under GoI Line of Credit

Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport & Bridges, Mr. Obaidul Quader, M.P.,

Secretary, Road Transport & Highways Division, Mr. ABM Amin Ullah Nuri,

Chief Engineer, Roads and Highways Department, Mr. Md. Ishaque,

Project Director Mr. Mohammaed Jahed Hossain,

Dear colleagues, friends from the media, and friends,

         It is a matter of great joy and pride for me to be here today at the Ground Breaking Ceremony of the project for “Widening of Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh Road” which is being taken up under Government of India’s third Concessional Line of Credit of 4.5 billion dollars extended to the Government of Bangladesh.

2.     Our two Governments, under the visionary leadership of our two Prime Ministers, have accorded the highest priority to building critical connectivity infrastructure. We firmly believe that our development trajectories are linked and that enhancing cross-border connectivity will have a multiplier effect on our economies, with significant positive spillover effects for the entire region. In recent times, the India-Bangladesh bilateral relationship has touched new heights across all sectors including political and security cooperation, defence, border management, trade and connectivity, water resources, power and energy, development cooperation, cultural and people-to-people links. We are also looking forward to collaborating in new sectors such as environment, climate change, cyber security, ICT, start-ups, space technology, green energy and blue economy.

3.     Bangladesh is India’s largest development partner both in terms of value and number of projects, with nearly 10 billion dollars extended under concessional financing, which is nearly one-fourth of our entire concessional financing portfolio. Under our concessional Lines of Credit, or as they are more commonly referred to LOCs, over 40 projects have been taken up of which 14 projects have already been completed and the rest are at various stages of implementation. More than 2 billion dollars have been contracted till date and disbursements crossed the milestone of 1 billion dollars during the year 2022, significantly picking up pace despite Covid-19. It is in fact heartening to note, that during the most challenging pandemic period, India emerged as the fastest and largest disburser among the development partners of Bangladesh.

4.      Today’s ground breaking ceremony for this critical road project is a reflection of the priority attached to augmenting connectivity, while also building the internal capacities of Bangladesh. This project, I am sure, will contribute to improving the quality of national and urban transport in Bangladesh.

5.     The importance of projects in the roads and highways sector can be gauged from the fact that out of our total concessional LOC commitment of 7.862 billion dollars, five projects worth 932 million dollars i.e., 12% of the total commitment is under implementation by Roads & Highways Department (RHD). Additionally, three supply projects worth 91 million dollars for the supply of double-decker, single-decker, AC and non-AC buses and heavy-duty trucks have already been completed, thereby taking our total project commitment in the roads and highways sector to over 1 billion dollars.

6.      This project, at a total project cost of 80.06 million dollars under Government of India LOC, envisages the widening of approximately 38 kms of the Baraiyerhat-Heanko-Ramgarh road in Ramgarh upazila under Khagrachhari district and would contribute to improvement of the road network between the Chattogram port and the Ramgarh Land Port. Further, the Government of India funded India-Bangladesh Maitree Friendship Bridge on Feni River has already been constructed, and this road project will boost two-way trade between Bangladesh and India as well as regional trade of Bangladesh through the Sabroom-Ramgarh LCS.

7.      To conclude, I would like to wish all the stakeholders of this important road connectivity project, the very best. I request the Bangladeshi Consultant and Indian Contractor M/s Ashoka Buildcon Ltd. to put in their best efforts so that the project is completed in a timely manner and can effectively contribute to growth and development of our two countries and the region.

Thank you.

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