BD-India meet on transit protocol next month

Bangladesh and India will hold a high-level meeting on the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade (PIWTT) next month to finalise its Standard Operating Procedures (SoP).

Both the countries have agreed to update the existing PIWTT which was signed in 1972, Shipping Ministry's acting secretary M Abdus Samad told UNB.

Once the PIWTT SoP is in place, trade between Bangladesh and the north eastern states of India will increase, he said.

"A standard operating procedure will be finalised and the meeting will try to complete it," he said.

The National Waterway one (NW-1) will connect the North East through Indo-Bangla protocol route. It will reduce the distance from about 1,700 km via Siliguri in north Bengal to about 500 km via Bangladesh, reports Indian media quoting Inland Waterways Authority of India Vice-chairman Pravir Pandey.

The route will also open up opportunity for Bangladesh trade through Haldia port and lessen congestion at Chittagong port in Bangladesh.

In the protocol route, Rs 35.00 billion (US$ 538.312 million) dredging project has been undertaken and the cost will be shared at 80:20 between India and Bangladesh.

In the protocol route, dredging would be required mainly in some stretches under Sirajganj-Doikhawa route on Brahmaputra-Jamuna river in Bangladesh and also under Ashuganj-Karimganj route to improve the navigability, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority's Director (Marine safety and Traffic management) Md Shafiqul Haque had said earlier.

India is developing the NW-1 under the Jal Marg Vikas Project with assistance from the World Bank.