Country needs more container depots
Monday, 15 November 2010
Munima Sultana
Bangladesh will have to develop a number of container depots to get the benefits of the connectivity among member countries covered by Asian highway and trans-Asian railway.
The country has only one standard container depot at Kamalapur Railway Station.
The Asian Highway (AH) has been planned to have 141,000 km roadways crisscrossing 32 Asian countries while the trans-Asian railway (TAR) will have 81,000 km network stretching from Europe to east and south-east Asia.
The officials said the government will soon conduct study to find out possible depots which is officially called 'dry port' throughout the country to facilitate the transit and connectivity among the member countries.
At present, the country has 17 depots in more than 30 land ports with very poor facilities.
The officials said possible sites to develop dry ports will be selected after discussions with other member countries during different regional meeting of ESCAP expert committees.
ESCAP has recently held a regional expert committee meeting in Bangkok and directed the member countries to take initiative in connection with site selection through study.
A four-member team of the communications ministry and roads and highways departments attended the meeting titled 'development of dry port along the Asian highway and trans-Asian railway network'.
The RHD representative in the meeting said the expert committee identified that majority of the countries have inadequate number of international standard depots. The meeting discussed certain criteria for dry port for AH and TAR.
The Kamalapur depot has better facilities than other depots but it lacks high tech handling, customs, information and communication technology facilities, said an official who attended the meeting.
The AH project, first initiated in 1959, has linked Bangladesh with the expanded road network through Sylhet, Jessore and Panchagarh border with 32 Asian countries. The TAR is likely to be connected with the railway track of the country through Darshana, Rajshahi and Dinajpur. Bangladesh joined AH in 2009 and TAR in 2007.
Bangladesh will have to develop a number of container depots to get the benefits of the connectivity among member countries covered by Asian highway and trans-Asian railway.
The country has only one standard container depot at Kamalapur Railway Station.
The Asian Highway (AH) has been planned to have 141,000 km roadways crisscrossing 32 Asian countries while the trans-Asian railway (TAR) will have 81,000 km network stretching from Europe to east and south-east Asia.
The officials said the government will soon conduct study to find out possible depots which is officially called 'dry port' throughout the country to facilitate the transit and connectivity among the member countries.
At present, the country has 17 depots in more than 30 land ports with very poor facilities.
The officials said possible sites to develop dry ports will be selected after discussions with other member countries during different regional meeting of ESCAP expert committees.
ESCAP has recently held a regional expert committee meeting in Bangkok and directed the member countries to take initiative in connection with site selection through study.
A four-member team of the communications ministry and roads and highways departments attended the meeting titled 'development of dry port along the Asian highway and trans-Asian railway network'.
The RHD representative in the meeting said the expert committee identified that majority of the countries have inadequate number of international standard depots. The meeting discussed certain criteria for dry port for AH and TAR.
The Kamalapur depot has better facilities than other depots but it lacks high tech handling, customs, information and communication technology facilities, said an official who attended the meeting.
The AH project, first initiated in 1959, has linked Bangladesh with the expanded road network through Sylhet, Jessore and Panchagarh border with 32 Asian countries. The TAR is likely to be connected with the railway track of the country through Darshana, Rajshahi and Dinajpur. Bangladesh joined AH in 2009 and TAR in 2007.