প্রকাশ: 30/06/2022
The World Bank (WB) granted financing of total US$1.03
billion in order to improve regional trade in Bangladesh and Nepal by lowering
trade and transport costs and transit times along the regional corridors.
The Accelerating Transport and Trade Connectivity in Eastern
South Asia (ACCESS) Programme Phase 1 will help the respective governments
address the key barriers to regional trade Z manual and paper-based trade
processes, inadequate transport and trade infrastructure and restrictive
trade and transport regulations and processes.
The Phase 1 of the programme will help replace lengthy
manual and paper-based trade processes with digitized automated solutions in
Bangladesh and Nepal, said a press release in Dhaka on Wednesday.
The automation will enable faster border crossing times and
install electronic tracking of truck entry and exit, electronic queuing
and smart parking.
The programme will also help improve selected road corridors
and upgrade key land ports and custom infrastructure while ensuring green
and climate-resilient construction. This will help the integration of
landlocked Nepal and Bhutan with the gateway countries of Bangladesh and India.
"Regional trade offers enormous untapped potential for
the countries of South Asia. Today, regional trade accounts for only five
percent of South Asia's total trade while in East Asia it accounts for 50
percent," said Hartwig Schafer, World Bank Vice-President for South
Asia.
"South Asia can boost economic growth significantly and
create opportunities for millions of people by increasing regional trade and
connectivity," Schafer added.
The US$753.45 million ACCESS Project in Bangladesh will
upgrade the 43-km two-lane Sylhet-Charkai-Sheola road to a climate-resilient
four-lane road, connecting the Sheola Land Port with the Dhaka-Sylhet
Highway.
This will cut down travel time by 30 percent. The project
will support digital systems, infrastructure, and more streamlined processes at
Benapole, Bhomra and Burimari land ports, the three largest land ports in
Bangladesh handling approximately 80 percent of land-based trade.
It will also support the modernization of the Chattogram
customs house which handles 90 percent of all import/export declarations in
Bangladesh.
"While the trade between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and
Nepal grew six times from 2015 to 2019, the unexploited potential for
regional trade is estimated at 93 percent for Bangladesh," said Mercy
Tembon, WB country director for Bangladesh and Bhutan.
"The project will help Bangladesh improve regional
trade and transport and automation of processes will build resilience to
crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic," she added.
The US$275 million ACCESS Project in Nepal will upgrade the
69-km two-lane Butwal-Gorusinghe-Chanauta road, along the East-West
Highway, to a climate-resilient four-lane highway.
The programme will also help advance Bangladesh and Nepal's
preparedness and subsequent implementation of the Motor Vehicle Agreement
(MVA). In the second phase, the programme will include Bhutan.
"A key focus of the ACCESS programme is to support
solutions that can most effectively reduce dwell times at trade gateways,
which is vital to lowering trade costs. This entails greater border
cooperation and coordination within and between countries, cutting down
the physical inspection of goods and simplifying regulations and
processes," said Erik Nora, WB task team leader of the programme.
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