Agartala, May 5 (bdnews24.com) – India and Bangladesh will start work on May 10 to build a bridge over river Feni in Tripura for access to Bangladesh's Chittagong sea port to ferry goods and heavy machinery to northeast India, a minister said here Saturday.
"A joint team of engineers from India and Bangladesh will carry out field-level technical surveys before starting the actual work," said Tripura Commerce and Industries Minister Jitendra Chaudhury.
He said: "Talks will be held with the Centre for funding the project, but if they reject then Tripura government will bear the cost."
"Around Rs 40 crore will be required to build the 200-metre bridge, which would serve as the trading lifeline not only for the northeast region but also South Asian countries," added Chaudhury.
The proposed bridge would connect southern Tripura's border town Sabroom, 135 km south of Agartala, with the Bangladesh's border town Ramgarh, 300 km northeast of Dhaka.
Bangladesh has agreed to allow India to use the Chittagong, Mongla and Ashuganj ports.
The Chittagong port is the principal seaport of Bangladesh, handling about 92 percent of the country's imports and exports.
The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has also started work to extend its railway network up to the border town of Sabroom, which is just 72 km from the Chittagong port. This is expected to be completed by 2014.
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