India, Bangla to build bridge on Thega river

India and Bangladesh have planned to build a bridge on Thega River,  to ensure hassle-free movement of goods and services between Mizoram and other Indian states, and will allow access to Chittagong seaport in Bangladesh with Lunglei city in the Indian state of Mizoram, reports Construction Week Online.

The Bangladesh government has high hopes that a 660m-long bridge to India through the Rangamati border area will bring significant benefits for the country by boosting regional trade. Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, AK Abdul Momen informed that Bangladesh is keen on the new connection with India through the proposed bridge.

The cross-border transport systems that Bangladesh is developing with India is an important step due to the important role such an initiative may play in regional trade. According to a letter from the Foreign Ministry, the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) under the Road Transport and Bridges Ministry has already sent the Foreign Ministry a NOC regarding the proposal on the border bridge.

The Foreign Ministry is scheduled to arrange an inter-ministerial meeting on the border bridge shortly. Foreign Ministry Secretary (East) Mashfee Binte Shams will preside over the meeting, with top officials of the Road Transport and Bridges and Home Ministries present. They visited the project site in the Thegamukh area of the Rangamati border several times before sending the NoC. Md Shahadat Hossain, superintending engineer (bridge design circle) department informed that the design of the 660m bridge was prepared by Indian engineers and has already been reviewed by the RHD.

The bridge will have 15 spans with each span will be 40m long and one span is 60m, so the total length of the bridge will be 660 meters. However, roads to connect to the bridge needed to be developed, as the project area is currently surrounded by hills.

The initial plan is to connect the bridge to the border road project being implemented by RHD in the hill tract districts. The border road will be integrated with the Rangamati-Rajosthali-Bilaichori road, which is connected to the Rangamati-Chittagong regional highway.