BSS, Dhaka :
Country Director of the Asian Development Bank to Bangladesh Manmohan Parkash on Saturday said that the Dhaka-Sylhet corridor bears strategic importance, and it would open immense possibilities for Bangladesh in subregional, regional and even in international trade.
“There will be many economic zones (in Sylhet region) where connectivity is the most important aspect. Improved connectivity will reduce transportation and trading cost, and promote foreign direct investment. This is a corridor of economic development and employment creation,” he said.
The ADB country director said this in an exclusive interview with BSS after the development partner approved a $1.78 billion multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) yesterday to improve mobility, road safety, and regional trade along the Dhaka-Sylhet trade corridor in Bangladesh.
The Dhaka-Sylhet corridor, once completed, will support a new trade route that connects Chattogram port with India’s northeastern states through the three land ports of Akhaura, Sheola, and Tamabil, and from there to Bhutan and Myanmar.
The corridor is also the centerpiece of the Bangladesh government’s planned Northeast Bangladesh Economic Corridor, which aims to promote key industries in the area, such as energy generation and production of construction materials, and to better integrate them with the rest of the economy in the country.
Manmohan said this project would hopefully lead to multimodal or intermodal transport eventually connecting roads, rails, river ports and the seaports of Chattogram and Matarbari.
He said if border infrastructures are developed, it would be possible to facilitate a lot of industrial development there with the completion of the project since it is a part of the Asian Highway network.
