Kaladan News

Dated; Saturday, February 26, 2005

Gundom-Taungbro Bridge Over Taungbro River Foundation Laid

Chittagong, February 26: Visiting Burma foreign minister U Nyan Win and Bangladesh communication minister Nazmul Huda yesterday, jointly laid the foundation stone of Gundom-Taungbro Bridge over Taungbro River along Bangladesh-Burma border, said sources.

It is to establish a direct road link between the two countries. The 42.68-meter long two-lane bridge will be constructed as part of the Bangladesh-Burma Friendship Road Link Project, which the communication ministry is implementing with its own resources, said the ministry in a press release.

Several hundred people on both sides of the Bangladesh-Burma border lined up beside the existing small road to welcome the two ministers.

The road will stretch from Taungbro to Kyauktaw of Arakan State of Burma via Ramu-Gundom of Bangladesh. The Bangladesh government initially will build 20km road at a cost of Tk 94 crore with its own resources from Taungbro to Bawli Bazar inside Burma, officials said.

Apart from the 57 kilometers-road from Ramu to Maungdaw between Bangladesh and Burma, for which Bangladesh is providing money, another 120 kilometers road from Bawli Bazar to Kyautaw in Burma would cost an estimated amount of Tk 924 crore. International lenders may be approached for financing the rest of the stretch, the release said.

Huda announced at the function that the construction of the Bangladesh-Burma Friendship Road would begin next month, although the finances for the construction of the entire road are yet to be mobilized in full.

The road link will open the floodgate of immense prospect for Bangladesh to make a direct link with South and South-east Asia. It will herald a new era in the field of economy, trade and regional co-operation, laying the foundation, the communications minister said. ##

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