I think this plan in Bangladesh belongs to the Pie-in-the-sky variety. I posted it just to illustrate how outlandish the plans these days are - in terms of chori.
Hasina's govt. is trying to float this plan on Indian cue - as usual Hasina is biding her work-master Modi's plans to
interconnect West Bengal and Bihar with all NE states through Bangladesh to provide Indian shippers free transit to NE. Transit through Bangladesh to their NE states is Indian dream which they are "twisting our arms on" all the time and they will never pay one red cent for it as demonstrated by past history.
Indians want to improve infra in NE for strategic reasons but can't because they are too cheap to build their own roads via chicken's neck to the NE. Indians want us to do their bidding on our dime.
There is also a legitimate reason why building roads in Bangladesh costs more money,
a. Higher cost of appropriating arable land (even by state's sovereign rights) - much higher than Pakistan or India.
b. Earthfill (most land in Bangladesh is of the low-lying variety which floods annually).
c. Bridges and culverts (Bangladesh is criss-crossed by over 700 rivers and their tributaries).
But - the massive corruption and chori cannot be discounted, which is at a much higher scale than Pakistan.
Thanks to
@bête noire - we have $55 Billion as total cost for 2352 km 4 lane roads (named expressways by Hasina). Yes these will not be open to roadside like normal roads and will have controlled off ramps, exits and on-ramps. That comes down to a shade over $23 Million per KM in Bangladesh while it is $4 to $7 Million per KM in Pakistan (probably way lower in India but their standards are sub par as we all know).We should also look at Chinese construction costs per KM.
This means project costs in Bangladesh are three to five times that of Pakistan, even counting similar construction costs. Tells everyone how much Chori (theft) is going on in Bangladesh. Some of these ministers in Bangladesh deserve Allah ka ghazab, immediately, if not sooner.