 |
| Ashuganj port |
New Delhi has set the ball rolling for construction of the Inland River Port at Ashuganj in Bangladesh and called for bids from Indian consultancy firms to prepare the Detail Project Report.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has invited tenders and the firm that would be chosen would have to submit the DPR within seven months.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs has invited tenders and the firm that would be chosen would have to submit the DPR within seven months.
Dhaka and New Delhi agreed to expedite construction of an Inland Container Terminal at Ashuganj during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's September, 2011 visit to Bangladesh.
During Bangladesh-India joint commission meeting last May, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and her Indian counterpart S M Krishna agreed that the inland river port at Ashuganj would be constructed with New Delhi's assistance.
The notice inviting tender noted that establishment of a modern river port at Ashuganj was "important both for domestic logistics sector of Bangladesh and for its connectivity with India".
During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, India and Bangladesh agreed to amend the bilateral Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade to declare Ashuganj in Bangladesh and Silghat in India as ports of call. Bangladesh later allowed India to use Ashuganj port for transshipment of turbines for a power project in northeastern Indian state of Tripura.
In September 2011, Singh expressed his appreciation for successful commencement of trial run of the bulk cargo for Tripura using multi-modal facilities through Ashuganj Port. "It was agreed that the construction of an Inland Container Terminal at Ashuganj would be expedited and pending that, the port could be used for movement of bulk cargo immediately as far as practicable," read the joint statement issued after Singh's meeting with Hasina in Dhaka.
The Article 23 of the IWTT protocol now provides that trucks and trailers of Bangladesh may carry cargo transshipped from a vessel at Ashuganj and Sherpur up to the Bangladesh-India borders. It also provides that the cargo could also be transshipped from bigger vessels to smaller vessels for onward transport to Bangladesh-India Border (Zakiganj/ Karimganj) since Ashuganj-Sherpur to Zakiganj-Karimganj section becomes shallow during six months of summer every year making it difficult for bigger vessels to ply.
Ashuganj is about 50 km from Agartala, the capital of northeastern Indian state of Tripura, by road, out of which about 35 km road is well developed.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs noted that although Bangladesh declared it as a port in accordance with the country's Port Act 1908, the port infrastructure was "quite under developed".
During Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to New Delhi in January 2010, India and Bangladesh agreed to amend the bilateral Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade to declare Ashuganj in Bangladesh and Silghat in India as ports of call. Bangladesh later allowed India to use Ashuganj port for transshipment of turbines for a power project in northeastern Indian state of Tripura.
In September 2011, Singh expressed his appreciation for successful commencement of trial run of the bulk cargo for Tripura using multi-modal facilities through Ashuganj Port. "It was agreed that the construction of an Inland Container Terminal at Ashuganj would be expedited and pending that, the port could be used for movement of bulk cargo immediately as far as practicable," read the joint statement issued after Singh's meeting with Hasina in Dhaka.
The Article 23 of the IWTT protocol now provides that trucks and trailers of Bangladesh may carry cargo transshipped from a vessel at Ashuganj and Sherpur up to the Bangladesh-India borders. It also provides that the cargo could also be transshipped from bigger vessels to smaller vessels for onward transport to Bangladesh-India Border (Zakiganj/ Karimganj) since Ashuganj-Sherpur to Zakiganj-Karimganj section becomes shallow during six months of summer every year making it difficult for bigger vessels to ply.
Ashuganj is about 50 km from Agartala, the capital of northeastern Indian state of Tripura, by road, out of which about 35 km road is well developed.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs noted that although Bangladesh declared it as a port in accordance with the country's Port Act 1908, the port infrastructure was "quite under developed".
Located on the left bank of river Meghna and connected through the waterways with Narayanganj Port - the most important inland port of Bangladesh - and Chittagong Port - the most important sea port of Bangladesh - Ashuganj Port could also cater to logistic needs of the cities of Narsingdi, Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Brahmanbaria,Comilla and greater Sylhet region of Bangladesh, it added.
See Also: Bangladesh Newspaper, Bangla Magazine.
Post Tags: India sets ball, Ashuganj port, Narsingdi, Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Brahmanbaria,Comilla, greater Sylhet, Tripura.
0 comments:
Post a Comment