POBNEWS24, Dhaka, Nov 17, 2022 : Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan has said that Bangladesh will soon join the Southeast Asian rail network and China’s Belt and Road network. He said the interconnection between South Asian and Southeast Asian countries is opening up new possibilities to dominate the supply chain in these regions. As such, Bangladesh is geographically in the center of these countries. Currently Bangladesh-India is connected through rail network.
It will soon be connected to Southeast Asia’s rail network and China’s Belt and Road network.
He said these things at the closing session of the two-day workshop titled ‘Formulating National Logistics Industry Development Policy for Bangladesh: Experience from Global Good Practice’ at Hotel Intercontinental on Thursday.
Nurul Islam Sujan said Bangladesh Railways plans to establish an artificial intelligence-based cargo transportation system in the future, which will be an important component of the multimodal logistics mechanism.
Mentioning the need for huge investment to improve the railway infrastructure, the Railway Minister said, our ministry is working to improve the capacity of the railway track between Dhaka and Chittagong. At the same time it has planned to improve rail connectivity with Payra and Mongla ports. As if railways can contribute more to the economic development of the country.
Nurul Islam Sujan said the government has taken a 30-year program to develop and expand rail connectivity across the country, adding that southern districts and coastal areas will be connected to the existing network. Bangladesh Railways will play an important role in the overall logistics system once the dual gauge and double track rail roads are completed across the country.
In his presentation, Road Transport and Highways Department Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Noori highlighted the steps taken by the government to establish a multimodal communication system and said that although it was not possible to establish a global standard multimodal communication system in Bangladesh, the ‘National Integrated Multimodal Communication System Policy 2013’ It may be possible to establish following, where policies emphasize coordination between road, rail, air, sea, and inland waterway transport.
Meanwhile, World Bank’s Regional Connectivity and Logistics Knowledge Group’s Global Lead Martha B. Lawrence said in her presentation that Bangladesh’s position among 160 countries in the Logistics Performance Index is 100th. If logistics costs can be reduced by 25 percent, it is possible to increase the country’s export growth by 20 percent. Moreover, it is possible to reduce the cost of logistics by coordinating the road communication system by reducing the traffic congestion and modernizing the trucking system. Now is the right time to take integrated initiatives for rail and waterway systems to develop a multimodal logistics system.
