New Delhi, December 6:

The proposed railway line linking Birgunj of Nepal to Chittagong of Bangladesh will boost Nepal’s economy by allowing greater volume of its exports to India, Bangladesh and several other countries, experts said.

A meeting of transport ministers of the South Asian Association for Region Cooperation (SAARC), held from August 29 to 31, had agreed in principle to link Nepal’s commercial and industrial towns Birgunj and Biratnagar to Bangladesh via Katihar of India. The decision was endorsed by a meeting of SAARC foreign ministers recently.

Member of the South Asian Multimodal Transport Studies (SAMTS) and Indian central railways undersecretary Mohammed Jamshed said that apart from the proposed Nepal-Bangladesh rail link, direct air links between New Delhi and Islamabad and to The Maldives’ capital Male have been proposed as priority issues. Air links between Chennai and Kochi of India to Colombo of Sri Lanka have also been proposed.

The projects were proposed after a study conducted by SAMTS on possible points of infrastructural links among South Asian countries.

The Asian Development Bank had financed the study. Jamshed said Nepal would stand to benefit the most from the proposed rail link and that it would be launched as a pilot project.

He added that a feasibility study on linking Nepal to India by rail at other points also was complete. The Nepal-Bangladesh rail link will run from Birgunj to Chittagong via Raxaul and Katihar of India. Jamshed said a study on connecting Biratnagar to Katihar through a feeder link was also going on. “Not just Nepal and India, the rail link will provide a quantum leap in terms of scope for trade and commerce among Nepal, India and Bangladesh at a tripartite level.” he said.

Economic minister and undersecretary at the Nepali Embassy Kedar Bahadur Adhikari said, “The new rail line will greatly reduce transportation costs. It is a tremendous opportunity for establishing trade ties with other countries.”