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Establishing a transport grid through Bangladesh to be examined

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November 23, 2000 

Dhaka-- (UNB) – Establishing a transport grid linking eastern Indian hill states with West Bengal through Bangladesh is among some major cross-border investment projects that will be examined at a donor-sponsored conference in Calcutta.

The two-day private-sector forum meet on South Asia Subregional Cooperation begins in the West Bengal capital Tuesday to identify the investment program, an ADB announcement said here yesterday (Wednesday).

It says the event will bring together public and private sector representatives as a step towards identifying an investment program to develop what has been dubbed the South Asia Growth Quadrangle (SAGQ), consisting of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.

The Asian Development Bank is sponsoring and participating in the event, organised by the Chambers of Commerce from the region, by a large delegation led by Programs West Director Yoshihiro Iwasaki due to the region’s “potential for rapid development”.

The investment program for the subregion would include an economic corridor around the Bay of Bengal, linking ports from Chittagong to Dhaka, Mongla, Calcutta, and Haldia.

It would also include a transport grid of east-west railroads and highways linking the eastern Indian hill states with West Bengal through Bangladesh, as well as north-south transport corridors linking Nepal, Bhutan, and the hill states or eastern India to ports on the Bay of Bengal.

This grid would be connected to the rest of India at Calcutta through India’s top-priority Golden Quadrilateral project of superhighways joining Delhi, Bombay, Chennai and Calcutta.

Similar grids could be developed for power, hydrocarbons and telecommunications.

The Calcutta conference aims to begin translating the broad concepts into specific, bankable, investment projects. ADB will urge governments and private sector representatives to prepare a regional development master plan to identify specific projects in different sectors and prioritise them for financing.

“The SAGQ is of special interest to ADB, which has made poverty reduction its over-arching goal.” It is estimated that over half of Asia’s 900 million people subsisting below the poverty line live in the SAGQ countries.

ADB believes this challenge is an opportunity. The subregion offers a huge force of hardworking and disciplined workers at relatively low wages.

“Given the chance to be productively employed, with suitable investment to develop their skills, this workforce could be a major competitive advantage,” says ADB.

Moreover, the donor agency noted, SAGQ is rich in natural resources, including the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basins, one of the largest graineries of the world.

With investments to improve agricultural productivity and efficient water management, this granary could feed the subregional workforce at reasonable prices.

Other resources include the hydropower potential in Nepal and Bhutan, the coal resources of West Bengal and Bihar and the hydrocarbon reserves in Bangladesh, Assam and Tripura.

In addition, there are large non-energy mineral deposits, forest resources, livestock and marine resources and a network of ports in Chittagong, Mongla, Calcutta, and Haldia.

“The sub-region thus has all the ingredients for dynamic economic growth. Large and coordinated investments across a wide front are needed to tap this potential,” says the ADB release.

Private entrepreneurs will be the main instruments of transformation, especially in undertaking infrastructure projects.

“However, coordination is required among governments to create an enabling environment for the private sector, such as forging agreements to facilitate cross-border movements of goods and services.”

Many of the planned infrastructure projects are cross-border projects, which require coordination across national boundaries. Governments will also need to take the lead in identifying, planning, and mobilizing the funds for such mega-investment projects.

ADB’s investment portfolio stood over USD16 billion in the SAGQ countries, in addition to USD 340 million in technical assistance grants.

Most of the loans and technical assistance are for physical infrastructure such as roads, railways, inland water transportation, power and energy as well as social investments in education, health, and urban environment.

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