India and Bangladesh have agreed to expedite the execution of development projects supported by the Indian Line of Credit (LoCs) as some schemes are struggling for the implementation delay, officials said on Wednesday.
The neighbouring countries reviewed the projects under the ongoing Indian US$862 million LoC-I, $2.5 billion LoC-II, and $4.5 billion LoC-III in Dhaka on Wednesday.
Headed by a joint secretary of its External Affairs Ministry, the Indian team included an EXIM Bank General Manager, a representative of the Indian High Commission in Dhaka representative.
Led by a joint secretary of the Economic Relations Division (ERD), the Bangladesh team made up of mostly project implementing agencies.
An ERD official said that they had mainly sat together to remove obstacles in the way of executing the ongoing project supported under the Indian LoCs.
Meeting insiders said the issue of unfit buses, supplied by Indian contractor to the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) under the Indian aid support was discussed in the review meeting.
Both sides had expressed their concern over the unfit Indian buses and had agreed to resolve the issue, they said.
A Bangladeshi newspaper has recently reported that rain water was falling through the roof of some new buses of the BRTC due to leakage, which was procured recently from the Indian contractor under the LoC support.
Besides, Dhaka and Delhi on Wednesday had agreed to complete the construction of Bangladesh Railway (BR)'s Tk 38.02 billion cost Khulna-Mongla railway, which has been struggling since 2010, they said.
The BR undertook the 65-km railway line building project under the $862 million Indian LoC-I after the loan was confirmed in December 2010.
The Bangladesh side requested the Indian counterpart to approve the projects undertaken by Bangladesh recently aiming to expedite implementation, they said.
Banglades has undertaken 16 development projects under the LoC-II, while process is underway to take up some 16 other schemes under the LoC-III.
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