By IANS,
Dhaka : Beijing has agreed to implement a Bangladeshi proposal for a road link via Myanmar, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced after the visit of Chinese vice president Xi Jinping.
She told parliament Wednesday that a project financed by Bangladesh government called “Study and Design for Bangladesh-Myanmar link road” was underway. The road project will be implemented in two phases, she added.
Under the first phase two km of road will be constructed from Ramu to Gundum inside Bangladesh and 23 km will be constructed between Taungbro and Bolibazar inside Myanmar.
She said her government has actively been trying to link Bangladesh with members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China “in the interest of the people of this country”.
“Effective roads and rail communications will be set up among the ASEAN countries once the proposed project is implemented,” she said.
Political, economic, commercial and cultural relations with China and other south-eastern countries of Asia will be interrelated, she added.
Hasina has on her returning to power in January last year sought to reach out to India and other South Asian neighbours like Nepal and Bhutan seeking road and rail links and greater trade.
Her deal with India that allows the latter partial, project-based access to the isolated northeastern region has been criticised by Bangladesh’s opposition party.
In the second phase, the Myanmar authorities will construct 110 km of road link between Bolibazar and Kyanktow in Myanmar. There is a road link between Kyanktow and Kunming, Hasina said.