The Government of Bangladesh has completed with ADB technical assistance its feasibility study and detailed design for a planned upgrade of the 38-kilometer Jessore-Benapole highway. It is set to inject more than BDT 3.29 billion ($42.05 million) to fund the Indo-Bangladesh transport corridor improvement to facilitate trade and connectivity.

According to the plan, the highway will be upgraded following international standards to better accommodate heavy vehicles. The project is set to be completed by December 2019. The plan has been submitted to the Bangladesh Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges for approval.

The highway is central to several regional connectivity initiatives, including the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal Motor Vehicle Agreement, BIMSTEC road corridors, SAARC highway corridors, and SASEC road corridors.

Almost 90% of total goods imported to Bangladesh from India pass through the land port on the border of Benapole, Bangladesh, and Petrapole, India. Only 80 kilometers from the Petrapole-Benapole border is Kolkata, a major commercial hub in India.

An ADB study estimates that improvement of priority regional transport corridors in Bangladesh could facilitate movement of about 18 million tons of freight in Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Raising South Asia’s trade facilitation performance to international levels would result in large gains, including increasing intra-regional trade within South Asia by almost 60% and trade with the rest of the world by over 30%, according to a World Bank report.

Related Links:

• Uplift to Cost Tk 3.29b More
• TA: SASEC Road Connectivity Project
• World Bank Report – South Asia Regional Integration: Trade Facilitation and Regional Integration: Accelerating the Gains to Trade with Capacity Building