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ESCAP to conduct study on part of BD section of Asian Highway
ESCAP to conduct study on part of BD section of Asian Highway
FE Report
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will conduct a pre-feasibility study on certain part of the Asian highway route which will pass through Bangladesh.
Officials said a team that visited the country last month has already selected the Bonpara-Dasuria-Paksey-Kushtia route for the study as it would be a part of the Asian Highway (AH) link road as well as the sub-regional connectivity.
They said the study will be conducted as part of the UNESCAP's efforts to find investors for the construction of the route. The UN body will launch an investors' forum by year-end.
The country will have connectivity with Asian Highway 1 and 2 and regional connectivity with AH 41 through Banglabandha.
Officials at the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), which has taken a massive plan for the development of the route, said if the route between Bonpara-Paksey is developed it would be linked with Benapole, as well as Mongla port.
The study is expected to take two to three months as it would be done on secondary data, said an official.
The ESCAP has proposed Bangladesh to join the Asian Highway through two routes. First one starts at Benapole in Jessore and ends at Tamabil in Sylhet while the second AH-2 route starts at Banglabandha and ends at Tamabil.
The expanded road network will link the country with the Asian Highway (AH) through Sylhet, Jessore and Panchagarh border and help boost trade and investment ushering in a new era of connectivity with the continent's top economic powerhouses.
Bangladesh joined the Asian Highway in 2009, some five years after the Bangkok-based UN-ESCAP kick-started the world's largest transport network with the blessing from top Asian giants including China and India.
Since joining, the government has also planned to expand the country's key highways and bridges at a cost of 158.91 billion taka to link with the Asian Highway -- a network of 141,000 kilometres of roads encompassing 32 nations including Europe.
But the plan could not proceed due to severe shortage of fund for the road sector. Though the communications ministry has planned to expand all highways into four lanes, it has also faced severe fund crisis to carry out regular maintenance of major roads.
A sub-regional route called AH-41 has also been proposed connecting the Mongla and Chittagong seaports with Myanmar through Teknaf border. The total route length is 1,806 kilometres of which 1,199 km roads have two lanes and 584 km roads have only one.
The RHD officials said the ADB has started surveying the roads on the two routes to know their conditions. It is understood, the development partner may recommend changes to upgrade the roads in line with AH standards.
"Since joining the government was sincere to develop the roads connecting with Asian Highway, but due to fund constraints the progress has been slow," said an official.
The Asian Highway project was initiated in 1959 with the aim of promoting the development of international road transport in the region. During the first phase of the project (1960-1970) considerable progress was achieved. However, the progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975.
ESCAP to conduct study on part of BD section of Asian Highway
FE Report
The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) will conduct a pre-feasibility study on certain part of the Asian highway route which will pass through Bangladesh.
Officials said a team that visited the country last month has already selected the Bonpara-Dasuria-Paksey-Kushtia route for the study as it would be a part of the Asian Highway (AH) link road as well as the sub-regional connectivity.
They said the study will be conducted as part of the UNESCAP's efforts to find investors for the construction of the route. The UN body will launch an investors' forum by year-end.
The country will have connectivity with Asian Highway 1 and 2 and regional connectivity with AH 41 through Banglabandha.
Officials at the Roads and Highways Department (RHD), which has taken a massive plan for the development of the route, said if the route between Bonpara-Paksey is developed it would be linked with Benapole, as well as Mongla port.
The study is expected to take two to three months as it would be done on secondary data, said an official.
The ESCAP has proposed Bangladesh to join the Asian Highway through two routes. First one starts at Benapole in Jessore and ends at Tamabil in Sylhet while the second AH-2 route starts at Banglabandha and ends at Tamabil.
The expanded road network will link the country with the Asian Highway (AH) through Sylhet, Jessore and Panchagarh border and help boost trade and investment ushering in a new era of connectivity with the continent's top economic powerhouses.
Bangladesh joined the Asian Highway in 2009, some five years after the Bangkok-based UN-ESCAP kick-started the world's largest transport network with the blessing from top Asian giants including China and India.
Since joining, the government has also planned to expand the country's key highways and bridges at a cost of 158.91 billion taka to link with the Asian Highway -- a network of 141,000 kilometres of roads encompassing 32 nations including Europe.
But the plan could not proceed due to severe shortage of fund for the road sector. Though the communications ministry has planned to expand all highways into four lanes, it has also faced severe fund crisis to carry out regular maintenance of major roads.
A sub-regional route called AH-41 has also been proposed connecting the Mongla and Chittagong seaports with Myanmar through Teknaf border. The total route length is 1,806 kilometres of which 1,199 km roads have two lanes and 584 km roads have only one.
The RHD officials said the ADB has started surveying the roads on the two routes to know their conditions. It is understood, the development partner may recommend changes to upgrade the roads in line with AH standards.
"Since joining the government was sincere to develop the roads connecting with Asian Highway, but due to fund constraints the progress has been slow," said an official.
The Asian Highway project was initiated in 1959 with the aim of promoting the development of international road transport in the region. During the first phase of the project (1960-1970) considerable progress was achieved. However, the progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975.
