POBNEWS24, Dhaka June 25, 2022 : The distance from Dhaka to the northern district of Bogra is 191 kilometers. The vegetables that are sold in the morning at Mahasthanhat, the wholesale market of the district, come to Karwan Bazar in Dhaka at night. The people of the capital go to the market in the morning and buy the squid and squid produced by the farmers of Bogra.
Before the Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge over the Jamuna River was launched in 1996, not many vegetables used to come to Dhaka from Bogra, said the traders there. Shafiqul Islam, general secretary of the warehouse association of Mahasthan Hat, which has been associated with warehousing for four decades, told Prothom Alo that before the launch of Bangabandhu Bridge, Mahasthan was mainly a cattle-goat and paddy market. Vegetables were not sold at this market. Now it has become a big center for vegetable trade.
The picture is in the opposite southern district of Barisal. The distance from Dhaka to Barisal via Mawa is about 160 km. But if you left there with any agricultural product, you would have to wait for hours to cross the Padma. There was no certainty as to how long it would take to cross the river. If the currents were high, the ferry would be closed, the ferry would be closed in the fog, the navigability of the river would be disrupted due to the crisis.
With so much uncertainty, traders did not dare to build industries on the other side of the Padma. No commodity trade has developed in that area centered on Dhaka. However, this time the obstacles are being overcome, the Padma bridge built on the river Padma at a cost of Tk 30,193 crore is being inaugurated on Saturday. What was a dream for so many days is now a reality.
Connection to the big market
Dhaka is a big market in Bangladesh. The population of Dhaka metropolis is about two crores. Most of the four and a half crore middle class people in the country live in the capital. Economists say that production has increased and people’s income has increased in the manufacturing centers that are directly connected to this market in the capital.
For example, Abul Bayes, a retired teacher in the Department of Economics at Jahangirnagar University, conducted a study in 2008 on the economic impact of the Bangabandhu Bridge for the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC). It surveyed the people of seven villages before and after the bridge was built. It can be seen that the five villages that have benefited from the bridge have higher rates of crop growth, higher income and lower poverty. On the other hand, the two villages did not directly benefit from the bridge. The rate of increase in crop prices, increase in income and reduction in poverty are not so high. In the six years since the bridge was launched in the villages that have benefited directly from the bridge, the price of rice has increased at a rate of 6 per cent per annum. On the other hand, in unprofitable villages, the rate increases by 3 percent. This picture can be seen in the case of prices of all crops.
The feasibility study conducted by Japan’s development partner JICA for the Padma Bridge revealed that the country’s overall GDP (gross domestic product) will increase by 1.23 percent due to the Padma Bridge. The GDP of the southern and south-western districts will increase by 2.3 percent.
GDP is the combined value of goods and services produced within a country. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), in the fiscal year 2021-22, Bangladesh’s GDP stood at a current market value of Tk 39.7 million. GDP growth means increased production and increased employment.
Let us explain with an example how GDP will grow. The more vehicles that cross the bridge, the more value will be added to the service sector. The person who used to go to the village house twice a year will now have the opportunity to go more often. Because, there will be no suffering at the ferry terminal. Transport businessmen in the south and south-west are buying new buses in the hope of more passengers. The business of the bank is increasing with the loan to buy the bus, the sales of the bus company are increasing. Money to buy buses is being exchanged and sales of goods and services are increasing. The GDP is growing. The new bus will hire new staff, which will increase people’s employment.
From 2005 to 2010, a number of surveys were conducted on the number of vehicles plying on the Padma Bridge each year. The surveys were conducted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM) for the bridge division.
The ADB then said that in 2022, about 24,000 vehicles will pass through the Padma Bridge every day. The number will increase every year.
This time the opportunity of the south
During the 51 years of Bangladesh’s independence, 19 districts in the south and south-west were cut off from direct road connectivity. It is seen that economic activities have not developed much in those districts.
According to the 2013 Economic Census of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Khulna and Barisal in the south and southwest lag behind the northern divisions Rajshahi and Rangpur in economic activity. For example, the number of economic establishments in Rangpur was more than 1 million. In Barisal it was about 3.5 lakhs. Khulna, once rich in industry, also lags behind Rangpur.
Prothom Alo reporters and correspondents spoke to businessmen in the southern and southwestern districts . Traders say the bridge will open the door to possibilities in their district.
Siddiqur Rahman Biswas, vice-president of the Khulna Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said three roads have gone in three directions in Bhanga upazila – one to Barisal, one to Khulna and another to Rajbari, Jessore and Benapole. The three roads will be connected to Mongla and Payra seaports and Benapole land port. As a result, imported goods will be able to enter the industrial areas including Dhaka quickly through the three ports. It will be a multifaceted sector in economic activities.
