Rohanpur likely corridor for B'desh's trade with Nepal
Doulot Akter Mala | Saturday, 24 May 2008
The government has taken a move to develop Rohanpur corridor on the Rajshahi border to facilitate India-Bangladesh-Nepal trade.
It has sent a draft 'Operational Modalities for Carriage' to Nepalese government in this connection.
The Ministry of Communications held an inter-ministerial meeting recently to discuss about the points raised by the Nepal government, officials said.
Bangladesh railway has proposed selection of one of the two recommended routes as entry and exit points of the railway corridor for the Nepalese transit traffic.
One is from any point of Bangladesh railway system to Abdulpur-Rajshahi-Rohanpur-Singhabad with MG (metre gauge) transshipment at Santahar.
Another is from any point of Bangladesh railway system to Abdulpur-Santahar-Parbatipur-Chilhati-Haldibari with MG transshipment at Santahar.
Rohanpur is a goods train route. There was a rail link between Singhabad on the Indian side and Rohanpur on the Bangladesh side, but it has been closed since 1971.
In May 1990, an agreement was signed by the two parties to re-open the Singhabad-Rohanpur railway route.
Rohanpur-Singhabad is a broad gauge type of route and distance between the last stations of the two counties is 11 kilometre.
"It is a very promising route linking Bangladesh-India-Nepal. It will be the smallest corridor. Utilising the corridor, goods transportation cost between Bangladesh and Nepal will be reduced significantly," said Dr M Rahmatullah, transport policy adviser at the Bangladesh Planning Commission.
"A recent study on SAARC countries also pointed out the economic viability of the route, through which Nepalese goods could reach Mongla port easily," he said.
There must be a tri-partite agreement between the countries on transporting goods via this corridor.
Presently, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh through the route is allowed, but India is yet to allow trade with third country using the route.
Noted economic analyst Zaidi Sattar, in a study paper on 'Regional cooperation for enhancing trade and investment', has pointed out that growth of intra-regional trade in South Asia has lagged behind other regions.
South Asia is among the least integrated of all regions with only $3.0 billion formal intra-regional trade, although having potentiality of $15-20 billion.
Another study paper on development of the South Asian northeast sub region, written by Sadiq Ahmed, head of WB (World Bank) south Asia regional cooperation unit, has said intra-regional trade is a mere 5.0 per cent of total official trade as compared with 45 per cent in East Asia.
"Capital flows through legal channels are negligible, transit arrangements are cumbersome and expensive, and the physical connectivity is limited and restrictive," the paper said.
The northeast sub-region of the South Asia comprises eastern and northeastern states of India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
He pointed out that immediate priority is to facilitate trade and transit to promote more trade between Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.
There is a tremendous prospect for trade creation if railroad link is developed between northeast sub-region with northwest sub-region (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Western and north western India) and to China, the study paper said.
There are five rail routes connecting Bangladesh. Petrapole-Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Singhabad-Rohanpur, Radhikapur-Biral, Mohishasan-Shahbazar.
On April last, Gede-Darshana rail route opened up for running passenger train between Bangladesh and India.
It has sent a draft 'Operational Modalities for Carriage' to Nepalese government in this connection.
The Ministry of Communications held an inter-ministerial meeting recently to discuss about the points raised by the Nepal government, officials said.
Bangladesh railway has proposed selection of one of the two recommended routes as entry and exit points of the railway corridor for the Nepalese transit traffic.
One is from any point of Bangladesh railway system to Abdulpur-Rajshahi-Rohanpur-Singhabad with MG (metre gauge) transshipment at Santahar.
Another is from any point of Bangladesh railway system to Abdulpur-Santahar-Parbatipur-Chilhati-Haldibari with MG transshipment at Santahar.
Rohanpur is a goods train route. There was a rail link between Singhabad on the Indian side and Rohanpur on the Bangladesh side, but it has been closed since 1971.
In May 1990, an agreement was signed by the two parties to re-open the Singhabad-Rohanpur railway route.
Rohanpur-Singhabad is a broad gauge type of route and distance between the last stations of the two counties is 11 kilometre.
"It is a very promising route linking Bangladesh-India-Nepal. It will be the smallest corridor. Utilising the corridor, goods transportation cost between Bangladesh and Nepal will be reduced significantly," said Dr M Rahmatullah, transport policy adviser at the Bangladesh Planning Commission.
"A recent study on SAARC countries also pointed out the economic viability of the route, through which Nepalese goods could reach Mongla port easily," he said.
There must be a tri-partite agreement between the countries on transporting goods via this corridor.
Presently, bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh through the route is allowed, but India is yet to allow trade with third country using the route.
Noted economic analyst Zaidi Sattar, in a study paper on 'Regional cooperation for enhancing trade and investment', has pointed out that growth of intra-regional trade in South Asia has lagged behind other regions.
South Asia is among the least integrated of all regions with only $3.0 billion formal intra-regional trade, although having potentiality of $15-20 billion.
Another study paper on development of the South Asian northeast sub region, written by Sadiq Ahmed, head of WB (World Bank) south Asia regional cooperation unit, has said intra-regional trade is a mere 5.0 per cent of total official trade as compared with 45 per cent in East Asia.
"Capital flows through legal channels are negligible, transit arrangements are cumbersome and expensive, and the physical connectivity is limited and restrictive," the paper said.
The northeast sub-region of the South Asia comprises eastern and northeastern states of India, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
He pointed out that immediate priority is to facilitate trade and transit to promote more trade between Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan.
There is a tremendous prospect for trade creation if railroad link is developed between northeast sub-region with northwest sub-region (Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Western and north western India) and to China, the study paper said.
There are five rail routes connecting Bangladesh. Petrapole-Benapole, Gede-Darshana, Singhabad-Rohanpur, Radhikapur-Biral, Mohishasan-Shahbazar.
On April last, Gede-Darshana rail route opened up for running passenger train between Bangladesh and India.