BHANGA-JASHORE-BENAPOLE HIGHWAY
The government is now mulling over a plan to turn 129.17-km Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Highway into a six-lane expressway along with service lanes on either side to improve transportation between the capital and Benapole Land Port to boost trade facilities with neighbouring countries.

In this regard, the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry has taken a project titled ‘Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Highway (N-805, N-806 and N-706) Improvement Project’ and sent the proposal to the Planning Commission for approval, a senior official of the Planning Ministry told The Business Post.
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Meanwhile, the government has already constructed 55-km Mawa-Bhanga Expressway via Padma Multipurpose Bridge.

According to the report of Bangladesh Land Port Authority, about 90 per cent goods are imported from India through this corridor.

Since the service charge and expenditure of Benapole Land Port is comparatively low, the port allures exporters of India. The Import will increase 15-20 per cent through this port every year, once implemented.

The cost of the project is estimated at Tk11,072.37 crore of which Tk1706.21 crore will come from the government exchequer while the rest of Tk9365.86 crore will come from foreign assistance, according to the Preliminary Development Project Proposal (PDPP).

The proposal said the foreign assistance was likely to come from Indian Line of Credit (LoC) and other sources.

The Roads and Highways Department will implement the project from January 2023 to December 2028.

Member of the Physical Infrastructure Division of the Planning Commission Mamun Al Rashid said, “We have already recommended a support project for land acquisition and utility transfer of the project at the Project Evaluation Committee Meeting (PEC).”

“The support project will be implemented through the government’s own fund,” he said, adding that the PEC would hold meeting on the project soon.

“Now we will send the proposal to the Economic Relations Division (ERD) to search for funding from foreign donors to implement the project,” he also said.

The Asian Development Bank has conducted feasibility study of ‘Sub-Regional Road Transport Project Preparatory Facility (SRTPTF-2)’ under its technical support project. The detailed design of the project has already been completed, according to the proposal.

The project has been included in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) as a non- approved new project with foreign funding.

The Bhanga-Jashore-Benapole Road is part of Asian Highway network out of the major route of Asian Highway Network namely AH1. The route AH1 enters Bangladesh at Tamabil in the East (border with India, Meghalaya) and passes through Sylhet-Dhaka-Padma Multipurpose Bridge-Narail-Jashore and connects Benapole Land Port in the west (Petropole Border with India, West Bengal).