Bangladesh, India to start work on Feni bridge

[bindaas]

ASEAN-BD highway?!?!

Myanmar is part of ASEAN. So all we need to do is construct highways connecting BD and Myanmar. Then we can access some ASEAN highway, if one exists.

very smart, I was talking about major ASEAN economies like Thailand and Vietnam.

 

[Maira La]

very smart, I was talking about major ASEAN economies like Thailand and Vietnam.

Any grey matter in there bro?

If an ASEAN highway exists, it must have connected Myanmar to Thailand and Vietnam already (or in the future if ASEAN decides to build one)! Why on earth would BD pay for it! Please revisit my previous post.

 

[bindaas]

Any grey matter in there bro?

If an ASEAN highway exists, it must have connected Myanmar to Thailand and Vietnam already (or in the future if ASEAN decides to build one)! Why on earth would BD pay for it! Please revisit my previous post.

Because no direct road from Bangladesh border/west Myanmar to Thailand exist. India and Thailand has planned for a 1200km long highway but project is getting delayed because Myanmar is facing funds lack for their role in trilateral deal and asking India-Thailand to ease her burden.

 

[Maira La]

Because no direct road from Bangladesh border/west Myanmar to Thailand exist. India and Thailand has planned for a 1200km long highway but project is getting delayed because Myanmar is facing funds lack for their role in trilateral deal and asking India-Thailand to ease her burden.

The point being BD has to fund only the construction of the portion of the highway network that connects CHT to the point where it meets some ASEAN highway (maybe there's no such thing yet!) inside Myanmar.

I can't say if Myanmar would be interested enough to invest in it. It's affordability for us depends on the length of the highway to be constructed. Or maybe we could make use of the highway you're talking about in your post, provided it's close enough and Myanmar approves our request!

 

[kalu_miah]

Japan, Korea, China and India are all interested in a more integrated ASEAN with good road and rail infrastructure and are ready to invest in these projects. Except for India, everyone else in the region I believe would be glad to have Bangladesh in this road/rail network.

There is a lot of info on Myanmar-Bangladesh road link here:
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/6581-bangladesh-myanmar-road-link.html

Some more links:
http://www.asean.org/documents/MPAC.pdf
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/myanmar.pdf
Distance From Sittwe, Myanmar To Teknaf, Bangladesh|Air Distance From Sittwe To Teknaf|Distance From Myanmar To Bangladesh|Air Travel Distance Between Sittwe And Teknaf
http://www.asterism.info/maps/map1.gif

BOI

Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Road Network in 2015 (ADB) | AmCham Vietnam

Myanmar Times & Business Reviews

Southeast Asia One Step Closer to Linking Singapore and China in Massive Railway Network | Fast Company

 

[bindaas]

The point being BD has to fund only the construction of the portion of the highway network that connects CHT to the point where it meets some ASEAN highway (maybe there's no such thing yet!) inside Myanmar.

I can't say if Myanmar would be interested enough to invest in it. It's affordability for us depends on the length of the highway to be constructed. Or maybe we could make use of the highway you're talking about in your post, provided it's close enough and Myanmar approves our request!

Thailand is constructing a four lanes highway to Dawei Port on South-West Myanmar to avoid Malaysian peninsula and India Highway will start from Manipur. I think opting for Dawei Port will be more suitable for Bangladesh.

 

[Maira La]

Thailand is constructing a four lanes highway to Dawei Port on South-West Myanmar to avoid Malaysian peninsula and India Highway will start from Manipur. I think opting for Dawei Port will be more suitable for Bangladesh.

In that case the highway from Manipur must be passing through Arakan or the province east of Arakan. GoB could actually wait for India-Myanmar to finish up their construction work and then construct its own to connect to the new highway in or around Arakan instead of creating one all the way to Dawei Port (it's actually not that close!).

 

[kalu_miah]

All these issues, I have covered in these posts:

http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/6581-bangladesh-myanmar-road-link.html#post2892802
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/6581-bangladesh-myanmar-road-link.html#post2893041

The long and short of it is that there already is existing road from Maungdaw to Yangon, built in 1910 during British rule over mountains, and it needs expansion and improvement. Only 23 km road has to be built from scratch between Bangladesh and Myanmar ( Gundhum near Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and Boli Bazar in Myanmar) to connect the two countries road network, without even building a bridge over Naf river, where the current river port Muangdaw is in Myanmar, opposite to Teknaf town in Bangladesh.

From the map, I see no reason why this link cannot be as viable as any other route via India, whether it is China-bound to Kunming or South-bound to Kyaukpyu, Yangon or Dawei, which will connect Bangladesh to rest of ASEAN countries via Greater Mekong Sub-region road network and to two new proposed deep sea ports (Kyaukpyu and Dawei), specially if Sonadia deep sea port takes longer to build than these other two in Myanmar.

 

[Shardul.....the lion]

I am sure Feni city will be immensely affected by development of bridge and start of trade.

ASEAN connecting with south asia, these highways are far from completion, infact some parts are not even at planning stages. So these highways will come around 10-15 yrs afterwards.
While India is planning to get connected to myanmar in next 4-5 yrs.

 

[bindaas]

All these issues, I have covered in these posts:

http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/6581-bangladesh-myanmar-road-link.html#post2892802
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/6581-bangladesh-myanmar-road-link.html#post2893041

Are any such deals in the pipeline by your current or previous governments. Even renovating a 100 years old road is an expensive task and such roads needed to be converted into atleast 2 lanes highway in current scenario.

 

[kalu_miah]

Myanmar proposes road network with China, Bangladesh | Reuters

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a deal in July 2007 to construct a 25 km road to connect the two countries and construction will begin soon, officials at the Communication Ministry said.

"Both Myanmar and China are interested to set up the tri-nation road network," the statement quoted the Myanmar foreign minister as telling his Bangladesh counterpart.

There is no road linking Bangladesh and Myanmar, although there are two transit points along the border. Bangladesh will fund the road, most of which will be inside Myanmar, with only about 2 km in Bangladesh.

Both countries believe that the road will help boost bilateral trade, currently worth only around $60 million, a spokesman for the Bangladesh foreign ministry said.

Bangladesh and Myanmar share a 320-km border, partly demarcated by the Naf river, a regular route for smuggling and illegal crossings by minority Muslims fleeing what they say is persecution by Myanmar's military junta.

Bangladesh-China Relations: Should India Be Concerned? - By Sowmya Suryanarayanan

Bangladesh-China Relations: Should India Be Concerned?

- By Sowmya Suryanarayanan
March, 2011

China and Bangladesh have intensified their bilateral cooperation in areas such as trade, investment and infrastructure development, which has led to the signing of a 10-point joint communiqué in 2010. In addition, the China-Myanmar-Bangladesh road and rail link received fresh impetus last year with all three countries agreeing to sign an agreement to develop transit facilities. Moreover, Bangladesh has sought China’s assistance to develop and use the Chittagong port, as well as a deep sea port at Sonadia Island in Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh. The tri-nation cooperation in opening up transit facilities will boost trade in both Bangladesh and China. However, the Chinese-backed infrastructure development in Bangladesh, while a boon for economic prosperity in the country, could pose challenges for India in the coming decades.

Over the years, China has consistently extended its economic, military and diplomatic assistance to Bangladesh and emerged as its largest trade partner recently. The road link connecting China and Bangladesh via Myanmar will reduce the distance between China’s Yunnan Province and Bangladesh’s Chittagong to 111 km (this is wrong I think it is more like 1110 km, just look at any map), which will further boost economic activities between the two countries. In the long run, this could prove to be vital for Bangladesh as it will aid in addressing several socio-economic issues in the conflict-stricken south-west part of the country.

Moreover, recent reports suggest that there is potential to extend the tri-nation road link to the Kunming highway in China, which it being built to connect the Yunnan Province to Bangkok in Thailand. The wider network of road links will provide an avenue for Bangladesh to connect to the rest of South East Asia in the future. China, on the other hand, will benefit from developing the Chittagong port and constructing a deep sea port at Sonadia Island in Bangladesh, giving it direct access to the Bay of Bengal. This will serve to reduce China’s dependence on the Malacca Straits.

While the primary aspect of the relationship between China and Bangladesh is economic, it is unlikely to remain so in the future, given China’s strategic interests in the South Asian region. In this context, the role of Bangladesh, as well as other smaller countries such as Nepal and Bhutan, which share their borders with north and eastern India could be crucial in shaping the regional order of South Asia. More importantly, China’s growing sphere of influence in its western region could pose security challenges for India, especially the sensitive north-east region. The next few years therefore, are crucial for India, as it must tread carefully while formulating its policy towards Bangladesh.

Over the years, India and Bangladesh have signed several treaties and agreements with respect to trade and investment. However the cooperation between the two countries has been periodically slow and has sometimes even failed to produce the desired outcome, resulting in growing mistrust among Bangladeshis towards India’s policies; this mistrust has also been largely fueled by the Islamist forces in Bangladesh (????). This could be one of the main reasons why the two prominent parties i.e. Awami League, which is widely considered to be India-friendly, and the main opposition party, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, are keen to pursue a long-term economic relationship with China.

Nevertheless, it is also true that Bangladesh cannot completely block India, and both countries will need to work towards resolving its existing issues, especially those related to water and border killings. In addition, India will need to consider providing transit facilities to Nepal and Bhutan to use the Chittagong and Mongla ports in Bangladesh, which will enhance development of the smaller countries surrounding India. Moreover, economic progress has the potential to positively impact the north-east region of India and contain the insurgencies that have plagued the region for decades.

It will be interesting to see how the cooperation between China and Bangladesh consolidates over the next few years. While India should be wary about China’s expanding influence with the neighboring countries, it should also act decisively on policy issues to ensure that the new cooperation forged between China and Bangladesh remains purely on economic terms.

The Bangladesh-Myanmar road link was a high priority project for BNP govt. in 2007 and China was using its influence in Myanmar to make it happen, but when Army took over and was in power for 2 years and then RAWamy League came to power, obviously that project became last priority as India was using its influence both in Bangladesh and Myanmar to stop it and pushing for its NE states transit corridor and Asian highway instead.

If Hasina loses power in 2014, and as Myanmar is also opening up, we are hoping that the project will come back to life again under BNP, with Chinese influence and perhaps with Japanese funding.

 

[scholseys]

Myanmar proposes road network with China, Bangladesh | Reuters



Bangladesh-China Relations: Should India Be Concerned? - By Sowmya Suryanarayanan



The Bangladesh-Myanmar road link was a high priority project for BNP govt. in 2007 and China was using its influence in Myanmar to make it happen, but when Army took over and was in power for 2 years and then RAWamy League came to power, obviously that project became last priority as India was using its influence both in Bangladesh and Myanmar to stop it and pushing for its NE states transit corridor and Asian highway instead.

If Hasina loses power in 2014, and as Myanmar is also opening up, we are hoping that the project will come back to life again under BNP, with Chinese influence and perhaps with Japanese funding.

Why the hell would the Japanese fund it

 

[kalu_miah]

Japanese will fund Bangladesh-Myanmar road link because Japan has interest in both Bangladesh and Myanmar as friendly nations and as market for its goods. Japan also takes keen interest in ASEAN affairs and its integration and infrastructure projects (please look at maps and links above). Bangladesh connecting with ASEAN will be beneficial for both ASEAN and Bangladesh and as a well wisher of both, it is my guess that Japan will fund such projects, if it is properly presented to Japan.

Japan also has some war time memory in the region, all of which was under Imperial Japan. Suvash Chandra Bose was cooperating with Japan to take over Bengal from Japanese occupied Burma. Geo-strategic interest does not end with one war.

 

[bindaas]

Great Map, Here are the 4/6 lanes Highways Projects of India,(Dimapur-Kohima 4 lanes Highway being constructed is not the part of NHDP) and every Capital in North-East India will be connected to East-West Corridor by 4 lanes Highway. NHDP Phase III is having 10,000km of 4lanes highways. Indian government has really worked hard for Highway modernization in India including North-East India.

 

[bindaas]

Japanese will fund Bangladesh-Myanmar road link because Japan has interest in both Bangladesh and Myanmar as friendly nations and as market for its goods. Japan also takes keen interest in ASEAN affairs and its integration and infrastructure projects (please look at maps and links above). Bangladesh connecting with ASEAN will be beneficial for both ASEAN and Bangladesh and as a well wisher of both, it is my guess that Japan will fund such projects, if it is properly presented to Japan.

Japan also has some war time memory in the region, all of which was under Imperial Japan. Suvash Chandra Bose was cooperating with Japan to take over Bengal from Japanese occupied Burma. Geo-strategic interest does not end with one war.

Japan is more interested in Port development in Myanmar.