Accra, Sept. 18 – (DPA/GNA) – Bangladesh and
India have begun constructing a cross-country oil pipeline to carry diesel to
Bangladesh from the world’s third-largest energy consumer.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and
her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi flagged off the construction of the
130-kilometre underground pipeline via video conferencing from their respective
offices in Dhaka and New Delhi on Tuesday.
“This pipeline is now a new milestone in
the history of cooperation between the two countries,” Hasina said.
Bangladesh will initially import 250,000 tons
of diesel per year from India through the pipeline to meet its growing energy
demand. The volume will gradually be increased to 400,000 tons per annum,
she said.
Bangladesh has been importing diesel oil from
India since 2016 through rail wagons covering a distance of 510 kilometres.
The two neighbours entered into an
agreement for the pipeline construction in April this year.
Bangladeshi energy officials say construction
of the 1 million-ton capacity pipeline, at an estimated cost of 50 million
dollars, is expected to be completed by 2020.
The pipeline, designed to connect
Shiliguri in the Indian State of West Bengal with the northern Bangladeshi
district of Dinajpur, will be finance through India’s ongoing development
cooperation programme for Bangladesh, they said.
Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, said
the project will play a significant role in Bangladesh’s development.
“We are not only neighbours; we are
also a family. We always extend our hands in our happiness and
sorrows,” he told the video conference in Hindi.
Construction of the oil pipeline project came
a week after Bangladesh began importing 500 megawatts of electricity through a
cross-country power transmission line from India.
GNA