Asian rly routes inspire Dhaka’s plan for highway

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Bangladesh holds up signing the Asian Highway Network (AHN) Agreement out of long-held concerns that the super-highway would act as an Indian transit corridor since both entry and exit points fall in the neighbouring country.

However, Dhaka joined the Trans-Asian Railway network on November 9 as it goes through India-Bangladesh-Myanmar and will not serve as a corridor for India.

Dhaka is holding out hope of an alternative AHN route, which would follow similar India-Bangladesh-Myanmar entry and exit point plan, according to high-level officials of the foreign and communications ministries.

Earlier, the BNP-led coalition government passed up the opportunity to join the AHN within the deadline of December 2005.

Instead, they approached six member countries to change the proposed route merely a few months before the deadline expired. The AHN members also declined to act as per the Bangladesh proposal.

According to the AHN agreement articles 10 (2), 11 and 14, only countries signing the agreement are eligible to propose a change in the route plan.

Against this backdrop, Bangladesh cannot propose amendment to the proposed route unless it becomes a signatory to the agreement.

Bangladesh can sign the AHN agreement once it is passed in parliament. As the parliament is currently suspended, a presidential ordinance would make it possible to sign an accession to the AHN form at the UN, to be followed by its ratification.

Communications Adviser MA Matin has stated that the 25-kilometre Bangladesh-Myanmar link road expected to be completed by 2010 would serve to strengthen Dhaka’s case for the alternative route.

However, communications ministry sources say Myanmar insists the 25-kilometre road is to help bilateral trade and is not keen on plans for extending it to AHN due to uncertainty surrounding the funding for the project.

But Yangon agreed to discuss the issue for the first time during bilateral talks in April and July.

The present AHN road network of 1,804 kilometres through Bangladesh, under the AH-1 route, proposes one entry point through Tamabil in Sylhet and two exit points through Banglabandh in Panchagarh and Benapole in Jessore.

According to Article 15 (3) of the Agreement, Bangladesh is not obliged to act as a corridor for India or other countries in the AHN.

Dhaka’s proposal to follow an alternative Myanmar-Bangladesh-India route, requires directly concerned countries — Bangladesh and Myanmar — to jointly propose a route amendment, which is to be backed by a third AHN signatory, according to AHN rules.

But some officials in the foreign and communications ministries fear even if Myanmar agrees to the joint proposal, India might object to it if considered to be ‘directly concerned’ with the amendment.

Given that India surrounds Bangladesh, it is “illogical” to avoid the country, says Dr Rahmatullah, former director responsible for AHN at UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

He says the economic gains from the present AH route, even with both entry and exit points in India, are overwhelming.

The proposal for the alternative Myanmar route is an “illogical proposition”, Rahmatullah says, adding, the route does not exist and given the difficulty and time required to get Myanmar on board would make this an unlikely prospect.

Instead, he proposes that Bangladesh should more aggressively pursue the Kunming Initiative to link Dhaka with the Chinese city of Kunming through Myanmar.

He says after the construction of the 25-kilometre road, only 680 kilometres would remain to reach an AHN link-up point on the way to Kunming and that only requires upgrading the roads to a two-lane highway.

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