Dhaka will weigh through a feasibility study possible impacts on Bangladesh’s export to the neighbour before moving forward on New Delhi’s proposal to construct a bridge over Thega River mainly for transhipment to their landlocked state of Mizoram.
Besides, officials said, security risk of the setting up of connectivity with once-restive Mizoram through that front in the backwoods will also be taken into highest consideration.
These decisions came from a recent inter-ministerial meeting while reviewing the Indian proposal to open the border through Thegamukh in Rangamati district through which India wants to establish connectivity with Chittagong seaport to carry goods to its far-flung north-eastern states.
Sources said both the representatives of the ministry of commerce (MoC) and the national board of revenue (NBR) were apprehensive of possible impacts on Bangladesh’s export trade with the Indian north-eastern states once the connectivity is established.
The MoC representative in the meeting said the possible impact on exports needs to be assessed by conducting a feasibility study.
A joint inspection of Thegamukh-Demagiri area was suspended taking into consideration the all-upsetting pandemic situation.
Bangladesh has agreed to set up a border haat in that area after being proposed by Mizoram’s commerce minister, for facilitating formal cross-border trade, he added.
The NBR representative in the meeting said Ramgarh in Khagrachari district and Thegamukh in Rangamati district in the hills were declared land customs stations but no infrastructure was developed so far as there was no trade through that area.
If the proposed connectivity route is established by setting up a bridge over Thega River, he told the meet, goods from Kolkata can reach directly the north-eastern Indian states at low cost.
As a result, he said, Bangladeshi goods export to those states may decline. So a study needs to be done.
He said due to the demand for Bangladeshi products in Tripura and Mizoram, goods are exported through Akhaura and Bibirbazar land ports in increased volumes while imports far outstrip exports through other land ports.
He made a major point here that New Delhi did not respond positively to a recent Bangladesh proposal for road connectivity to Thailand through Akhaura via Myanmar crossing over Indian territories.
A home ministry representative noted Mizoram has only a 1.3 million population according to a 2020 census. “The ratio of Bangladesh’s export rise and security risk in this thinly populated Indian state need to be considered with utmost importance.”
A representative of the department of environment said the proposed area is a route for movement of elephants, and if the project is implemented, the normal movement of wild animal would be hampered.
Contacted, a senior official at the ministry of commerce told the FE that feasibility study on the impact of connectivity over Bangladesh’s export to Mizoram would be started after the pandemic situation eases.
He said Bangladesh’s export volume to India is very meagre which may further squeeze if connectivity through Thegamukh area is established.
In the recent years Dhaka granted New Delhi transhipment facility through land and water routes and also allowed using its seaports for carrying goods to India’s remote states.
Source : The Financial Express
