Bangladesh wants enhanced rail link with India

[fallstuff]

I posted the link of the article, Sami didn't, which means he only wanted us to read a part of the article. I didn't bring this source in this discussion your countrymen did. Agreed India has gained a lot from this deal, but its not like Bangladesh has been short changed either.

I know India is responsible for Nepal and Bhutan's transit, but if this rail link is established Bangldeshi ports will benefit from it, not to mention the bilateral trades between your country and Nepal,Bhutan will increase manifold. Yes Bangladesh is doing well without this connectivity but it doesn't mean it should get complacent. Any country even US and China are still pushing to increase their exports. These facilities will help Bangladesh to increase its trade volume.



The same issue has also been reported in several other Bangladeshi newspapers. I posted the links on the previous page post#37

They buried the topic deep inside the articles. Which means it is not a priority.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

I'm not sure why BD members think BD govt (that they voted to power) will be so stupid to ignore the voice of its citizens. I find it safe to assume that all future projects will be designed to be mutually beneficial, and since Indo-BD relations seem to be at an all time high I don't see a problem for issue resolution in case GOB does feel short changed.

for the god's sake dont post your funny stat that bd is earning 4.5 crore taka from trans water shipment protocol deal... that money is almost negligible if you compare it as a tariff for transhipment between 2 country... u or your country can keep the amount...n the 1972 protocol should be scrapped as now there are no necessity for such protocol or providing almost free water transportation deal... yes re negotiation is needed for the transit if it is really need to go through unless India want a short term deal which will be canceled by the next government... It is always better for India to accept the fact that this is an imbalance deal... instead trying to justify it by saying bd is getting free transit to nepal and bhutan as it is of no importance to bd or bd can continue with present mechanism... when India try to justify it saying BD is getting free transit to nepal and bhutan ... they in turn making the people more negative about it as it is quite evident India will transport couple of time more goods to NE India .. including the economing advantages it will bring to India where as it will bring nothing for bangladesh... all the hype about increasing trade and development are nothing but empty hype as it is a duty free transit...

 

[Roybot]

They buried the topic deep inside the articles. Which means it is not a priority.

Any news media caters to its audience, it doesn't care about the precedence. Sharing of Teesta water is not important to us, but is important to you guys. Similarly rail link is important to us and not you guys. Hence different headlines. But at the end of the day everyone was reporting based on the press release from Bangladeshi Embassy which mentioned both the water sharing issue and the rail connectivity issue.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

I posted the link of the article, Sami didn't, which means he only wanted us to read a part of the article. I didn't bring this source in this discussion your countrymen did. Agreed India has gained a lot from this deal, but its not like Bangladesh has been short changed either.

I know India is responsible for Nepal and Bhutan's transit, but if this rail link is established Bangldeshi ports will benefit from it, not to mention the bilateral trades between your country and Nepal,Bhutan will increase manifold. Yes Bangladesh is doing well without this connectivity but it doesn't mean it should get complacent. Any country even US and China are still pushing to increase their exports. These facilities will help Bangladesh to increase its trade volume.



The same issue has also been reported in several other Bangladeshi newspapers. I posted the links on the previous page post#37

I wanted to show that what the ruling party member or even PM hasina's economic adviser was saying or ordered .. I had no interest on your Indian news papers justification of the transit by saying economic adviser stupid by a certain professor when that professor even did not say how it will increase trade when it is a complete duty free transit... n did not address any of the issue that the economical adviser raised... He is wise enough to realize what the general public want after the election defeat ... he asked to analyse the complete deal based on cost benefit analysis... if it is beneficial than it will be the deal n if it is not then it will be cancelled... I personally think no reason of a bharati dalal professor's remark "stupid" for asking re evaluate the deal based on cost benefit analysis including the associated risk attached to it... so be here to the point instead posting what bharati dalals say to justify the deal.

 

[Roybot]

what bangladesh will gain will you point this out??? I said clearly in my post other then some bharati dalal none is supporting this deal... what a perticular professor say has any merit until he say what benefit bangladesh will gain... this is transportation deal without any duty ... so where there are benefit and business???

point to be noted india will get duty free access in both mongla and chittagong port .... so from where development opportunity is coming???? N he asked to revaluate the cost benefot analysis (mashiur rahman)... this is what every bangladeshi has asked ... so far no government agency or think tank provided any description how bangladesh will develop other then some selling dream... previously it was bangladesh will turn in to singapore by earning duty now chittagong will develop immensely ... obviously chittagong will develop regardless india get the transit or not.

Why do all your replies and posts have to be so hostile? Can't you discuss anything like a civilized person?

Connectivity between countries in a region is very important. Think about the countries in EU.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/...-1265938468438/BeyondSAFTAFeb2010Chapter7.pdf

http://www.ipcs.org/pdf_file/issue/IB113-SEARP-Smruti.pdf


Read the above paper, its from World Bank, it will give answer to a lot of your questions about what Bangladesh will gain from such deal and connectivity in general. The second one is an very balanced paper by an Indian author, but if you don't want to read it I understand.

Don't you guys expect Myanmar to give you transit to China? Don't you guys expect Nepal and Bhutan generated power to reach Bangladesh through India. Isn't Bangladesh going to benefit from the power that India will provide it? This is what has been plaguing South Asia. There is no trust and confidence when dealing with neighboring countries.

Your government has asked the ADB for undertaking an assessment on this transit deal anyways, and there were reports that it had World Banks backing too. So let the Asian Development Bank conclude its studies and then you ll also have their opinion about this.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Why do all your replies and posts have to be so hostile? Can't you discuss anything like a civilized person?

Connectivity between countries in a region is very important. Think about the countries in EU.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/...-1265938468438/BeyondSAFTAFeb2010Chapter7.pdf

http://www.ipcs.org/pdf_file/issue/IB113-SEARP-Smruti.pdf


Read the above paper, its from World Bank, it will give answer to a lot of your questions about what Bangladesh will gain from such deal and connectivity in general. The second one is an very balanced paper by an Indian author, but if you don't want to read it I understand.

Don't you guys expect Myanmar to give you transit to China? Don't you guys expect Nepal and Bhutan generated power to reach Bangladesh through India. Isn't Bangladesh going to benefit from the power that India will provide it? This is what has been plaguing South Asia. There is no trust and confidence when dealing with neighboring countries.

Your government has asked the ADB for undertaking an assessment on this transit deal anyways, and there were reports that it had World Banks backing too. So let the Asian Development Bank conclude its studies and then you ll also have their opinion about this.

1st thing 1st... this is not EU. Even if you see EU you will see the EU model is not beneficial for all the country those who have different financial condition then the EU policy. As you can see recently there were lots of bankcrupt country in the EU.

Here we are not giving transit to India but giving corridor to India. Now we will have to look what are the benefit and cost are associated with it. As under present format it is a free transit deal it is likely provide any benefit for Bangladesh including the lost of market with NE India and more over as I said before the bangladesh's export to nepal and bhutan will be couple of time less then the both way transhipment between India and NE India. What are the benefit it has been said will bring for Bangladesh---- Increase of trade between nepal, bhutan and Bangladesh. But how big is the market of those 2 country and we already know that majority of the market has been captured by china and then by India and bd will hardly have much share. The other benefit it has talked about getting hydro electric power from nepal and bhutan... but it can also be get in present format even if it require to give some duty to India... If we consider the duty that we will get by imposing it on Indian product will be much much higher that bd will have to be given for importing electricity from nepal or bhtan or to export at those 2 country.

Regarding myaanmar ... that country is getting tremendous economic and political backing of china unlike bangladesh get anything from India... and as it is associated with connectivity with china they hardly will object it. N regarding connectivity with China bd so far we have not heard any negative term associated with it... instead we have heard so far china will provide help to develop chittagong help to develop nuclear power to develop power sector to develop education sector to develop defense assistance to help get Bangladesh many of its diversified business. But hardly bd will get any such benefit from India... When bd is in such a bog bargaining position then why should bd give India free transit deal to loose market in NE India and with many other associated risk... where as it will hardly serve any good for bd. It is not as such that India will provide duty free access to bd goods to India other then 8 million pieces of cloths which is just like peanuts as this year bd is expected to export 18.5 billion USD worth RMG and within 3 year it is expected to reach 30 billion USD...lastly a weaken NE India is always beneficial to Bangladesh and bd should remain neutral in this case. By providing transit bd will annoy all the separatist group along with china... now those separatist group if try to held bd responsible for that and start terrorist activity inside bd then who will give the compensation...including the loss of life??? Present status quo is always beneficial for bd as it will have a leverage over India and about to be bengali majority will provide extra weight with that.

 

[Roybot]

Yeah good luck with your expansionist dreams, no point discussing anything with you.

 

[true_indian]

^^ And you just realized that? Phew..

All Indians, get out of this thread now. I am sure you have better things to do. Out now.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Yeah good luck with your expansionist dreams, no point discussing anything with you.

Listen the 2 link that you have posted have you read either of the 2???? I do not think so... but I did ... neither of it talked about economic advantage of BD instead talked about benefit of India ... n bashing some previous army government for not allowing transit and creating anti India phobia to protect their regime. Where as Indias own activity created anti India image.

For your information...

The 1st link started with the paragrapgh which speaks everything for the article...

"Integration of the transport network of South Asia is especially crucial to
countries such as Nepal and Bhutan and regions such as north-east India.
Such integration could serve to end their landlocked or semi-isolated status
and provide shorter transport and transit links to their desired destinations
including access to the sea."

The only benefit it talked about for bd is less distance for connectivity with Pakistan. As at present there are hardly any trade between Pakistan and Bangladesh it is of less important to BD.

For the second link it finish with the passage which speaks itself about the article...

"In the era of globalization
Bangladesh needs to emerge from its insecurity
syndrome, which has been carefully cultivated by
successive military governments in Dhaka to
protect their regime’s interests. Bangladesh’s
decision not to cooperate with India in this regard would be a loss to both countries. If India’s loss is
Bangladesh’s gain Bangladesh’s policy is justified.
However, there is nothing to prove that Dhaka is
gaining either politically or economically by
following such a policy. Although the current
government has agreed to sign up to the AHN the
debate still seems to hover around whether this will
lead to granting corridor to India or to providing
transit to India. Bangladesh needs to make an
investment in terms of providing facilities, if it wants
to reap the rewards of economic integration. As
India is connecting its northeastern region, linking it
to Myanmar and further to Southeast Asia,
Dhaka’s advantage will slowly lose its relevance.
Before that happens, Dhaka needs to make a
choice between the economics and the politics
of regional connectivity."

It at 1st tried to bash military ruler of Bangladesh and then tried to show a fear that it will connect its NE part with south east asia through myaanmaar and it will weaken bangladesh's leverage on India. But the 1st article pointed out that it is not economically profitable and it will not solve the problem of connecting Indias mainland with NE part in shorter distance. Saying emotional stuff like "if indias's loss is bd's gain then it is justified" is of no value and does not serve anything for Bangladesh neither economically nor politically.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Other then present condition of duty free access for this transit bd can only allow such transit if bd gets duty free access for its goods to India but instead providing that India is always creating one after another barrier of exporting bd goods to India.

 

[Ammyy]

how this topic or thread related to duty free transit ??????


Ohh sorry some people stu*** need reason to bash India

 

[Roybot]

Listen the 2 link that you have posted have you read either of the 2???? I do not think so... but I did ... neither of it talked about economic advantage of BD instead talked about benefit of India ... n bashing some previous army government for not allowing transit and creating anti India phobia to protect their regime. Where as Indias own activity created anti India image.

About the links, I posted the first one cause it talked about the importance of regional connectivity, never said it was Bangladesh specifc, and about the second one I found that piece quite balanced and informative so i shared.

The details of this deal is still not finalized. Its a mixture of transit and transshipment, but its certainly not a corridor. The local Bangladeshi logistics industry will gain a lot from this transshipment. And the infrastructure which is being made to facilitate this transit/transshipment is not India specific only. To which you ll say that these infrastructure weren't required. And once again I ll say that no infrastructure is useless. I remember having this discussion with you before and none of us agreed with each other before, don't see how we could convince each other this time.

Problem is when you talk about benefits for Bangladesh from this deal you only think about the immediate benefits. You don't think about the potential benefits which Bangladesh can reap in future if it plays its cards right. I ll give you couple of examples. The Mongla Port which is being upgraded with the Indian Loan and will be used by Nepal and Bhutan for exporting their goods. The only benefit you see in this project is the tariff that the port authority will earn from the increased export volume. But you don't realize that the new 2600MW thermal power plant(which will use imported coal) coming up in Bagerhat is right next to the Mongla port. Better port facilities will help with coal imports, similarly coal from India can be trained into Bangladesh using the proposed rail links.

You say giving transit to India would mean Bangladesh loosing its market in the North East India. True but its not like India is banning Bangladesh from exporting goods there. Besides what are we afraid of, if Bangladeshi products are cheaper and better they still won't loose the market. Not to forget that Bangladesh will get access to Nepal and Bhutans market. Thats a market of 30 million in comparison to what about 5-10 million in the north east(from personal experience Assam is certainly not a market for Bangladeshi products). On top of that Bangladesh will be able to import electricity from Nepal and Bhutan through India.

Similarly most of the infrastructure projects are intertwined. And you can't see all the benefits, perhaps they are not that apparent. Give it some time am sure your government will give you a detailed report along with the assessment done by the Asian Development Bank's on this transit/transshipment deal.

As i said earlier irrespective of AL or BNP the bureaucrats and the policy makers in any country remain the same, and they know their shyte unlike us. Am sure they wouldn't approve of anything that would undermine Bangladesh's interests. So let them do their work, in the mean time all these sorta threads are going to achieve are people trolling and throwing insults at each others countries.

These will be my closing arguments, don't have anymore to contribute to this thread.

 

[Frank Martin]

^^^

What did I tell ya?

Thats the Truth

 

[eastwatch]

I'm not sure why BD members think BD govt (that they voted to power) will be so stupid to ignore the voice of its citizens. I find it safe to assume that all future projects will be designed to be mutually beneficial, and since Indo-BD relations seem to be at an all time high I don't see a problem for issue resolution in case GOB does feel short changed.

Please do not make us laugh by saying our govt is here to ignore the voice of our citizens. If it is the voice of citizens, then the GoB should cut off all those India appeasing links.

 

[Gonjo]

Teesta river deal soon


India assures early conclusion of water deals | Bangladesh | bdnews24.com


daily sun | backpage | India assures early conclusion of deals


Delhi assures early water-sharing deals with Dhaka


UNBconnect... - India reassures early conclusion of water-sharing deals


I bet all these news sources I have quoted from are AL mouthpiece eh. Either that or you guys dwell in some sort of parallel universe ?

And, should we remember? lots of promises also being made from BSF of not killing innocent Bangladeshi civillians? Certainly from history we have learnt How India defines its version of promise.