Bangladesh has formed a committee of experts to hasten the process of granting transit facilities to neighbouring India through seaports.
Officials said in Dhaka yesterday, a joint secretary of the shipping ministry will lead the inter-ministerial committee formed last month by a directive of Prime Ministers economic adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman.
Dr Rahman has been working on the issue of providing India transit through Bangladesh since the heads of government of the two countries issued a joint communiqué in early 2010.
But, implementation of the proposed transit and many other outstanding issues seemed to have faced a setback last year when New Delhi refused to strike a deal with Dhaka on Teesta river water-sharing.
Bangladesh even suspended the river-based transit facility offered to India in September last in the face of widespread criticism from different quarters, who argued that Dhaka should make a threadbare assessment of the pros and cons before taking any decision about the transit facility.
According to sources, Dhaka has been forced to form the latest committee as New Delhi revived the process of diplomatic persuasions to avail Bangladeshs port facility.
India desperately needs transit facility through Bangladesh territory to transport its goods from the mainland to its landlocked northern states Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura known as the Seven Sisters.
Shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader, however, said, he could not give details about the terms of reference of the expert committee.
It was formed by the PMs economic adviser in a review meeting he held on the transit issue on November 20, 2011, the secretary said. I could give the details if I had read the minutes of that meeting, he added.
Sources said the main task of the recently-formed committee was to work out ways and options under the Multimodal Transportation by which India could be given the facility of using the countrys seaports.
The committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting next Tuesday.
Last year, a six-member committee was formed headed by a joint secretary of the shipping ministry to examine whether the countrys two seaports were ready for Indian use.
The committee found the port facilities were adequate to bear the extra load in case India and the two landlocked South Asian countries Bhutan and Nepal started using the ports immediately. Chittagong port, one of the biggest in the South Asian region, now has the capacity to handle an aggregate volume of 1.7mn TEU (20ft equivalent unit) containers. The port had handled 1.47mn TEUs in the financial year 2010-11.
Although Mongla port has the capacity to handle 50,000 TEU containers a year, it handled only 20,000 TEUs of seaborne cargo last year.
Leading think-tank Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies research director KAS Murshid said transit should not be offered to India before carrying out a thorough study on the loss and benefits for the country.
He also cautioned that Bangladesh should keep in mind the disadvantages of providing transit facility to India. Political instability in this part of the region is a risk factor, he said.
Gulf Times ? Qatar?s top-selling English daily newspaper - SriLanka/Bangladesh
Officials said in Dhaka yesterday, a joint secretary of the shipping ministry will lead the inter-ministerial committee formed last month by a directive of Prime Ministers economic adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman.
Dr Rahman has been working on the issue of providing India transit through Bangladesh since the heads of government of the two countries issued a joint communiqué in early 2010.
But, implementation of the proposed transit and many other outstanding issues seemed to have faced a setback last year when New Delhi refused to strike a deal with Dhaka on Teesta river water-sharing.
Bangladesh even suspended the river-based transit facility offered to India in September last in the face of widespread criticism from different quarters, who argued that Dhaka should make a threadbare assessment of the pros and cons before taking any decision about the transit facility.
According to sources, Dhaka has been forced to form the latest committee as New Delhi revived the process of diplomatic persuasions to avail Bangladeshs port facility.
India desperately needs transit facility through Bangladesh territory to transport its goods from the mainland to its landlocked northern states Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura known as the Seven Sisters.
Shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader, however, said, he could not give details about the terms of reference of the expert committee.
It was formed by the PMs economic adviser in a review meeting he held on the transit issue on November 20, 2011, the secretary said. I could give the details if I had read the minutes of that meeting, he added.
Sources said the main task of the recently-formed committee was to work out ways and options under the Multimodal Transportation by which India could be given the facility of using the countrys seaports.
The committee is scheduled to hold its first meeting next Tuesday.
Last year, a six-member committee was formed headed by a joint secretary of the shipping ministry to examine whether the countrys two seaports were ready for Indian use.
The committee found the port facilities were adequate to bear the extra load in case India and the two landlocked South Asian countries Bhutan and Nepal started using the ports immediately. Chittagong port, one of the biggest in the South Asian region, now has the capacity to handle an aggregate volume of 1.7mn TEU (20ft equivalent unit) containers. The port had handled 1.47mn TEUs in the financial year 2010-11.
Although Mongla port has the capacity to handle 50,000 TEU containers a year, it handled only 20,000 TEUs of seaborne cargo last year.
Leading think-tank Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies research director KAS Murshid said transit should not be offered to India before carrying out a thorough study on the loss and benefits for the country.
He also cautioned that Bangladesh should keep in mind the disadvantages of providing transit facility to India. Political instability in this part of the region is a risk factor, he said.
Gulf Times ? Qatar?s top-selling English daily newspaper - SriLanka/Bangladesh
