Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb during a visit on Thursday inspected the progress of the on-going construction work of the vital bridge over river Feni connecting Tripura’s southernmost bordering town Sabroom to Ramgarh, in Khagrachari district of Bangladesh.
Deb, who also holds the PWD portfolio, informed that his visit is to expedite the work of construction of the bridge as the rainy seasons are over in Tripura.
He added that out of the total ten pillars of the bridge already four have been completed and he has asked the construction agency to complete in next one-month time so that the work can be completed before time.
Deb added that the bridge will open the access to water-ways to Tripura thus financially benefiting the State as transportation cost will reduce drastically.
On completion of the 150-meter long proposed bridge at a cost of Rs 94 crore, Tripura shall be able to ferry all necessary materials, heavy machines and goods to and from the northeastern states and the rest of India via Bangladesh through the Chittagong international seaport, about 72 km from Tripura’s southern border town of Sabroom.
The bridge would be the trading lifeline not only for Northeast India but also neighboring South Asian countries.
The Bangladesh government has earlier agreed to allow India to use the Chittagong port and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh Premier Sheikh Hasina jointly laid the foundation stone of the bridge during the former’s two-day visit to Dhaka on June 6-7, 2015.
The Indian government is funding the bridge under grant assistance to Bangladesh and the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Authority of India (NHIDCL) is the constructing authority.
The High Commission in a statement said the bridge, once completed, will provide direct road connectivity between South Tripura and Chittagong through Sabroom (India) and Ramgarh (Bangladesh).
Besides trade, the bridge over the Feni river will further promote tourism and people-to-people contacts between the two countries.
