On 3 April, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally opened Sunday opened construction work on a new railway that will connect the south-eastern beach resort of Cox’s Bazaar to neighbouring Myanmar. By December 2013, the $US255 million project of two metre-gauge lines will connect Jhilongjha with Chittagong, the principal port city, on one side and on the other side, it will connect Ramu with Gundum near the Myanmarese border, The Daily Star reports.
The first survey for this railway was conducted in 1890 during the British era. But largely due to the two World Wars, construction never started. A feasibility study was carried out in 2001.
Bangladesh has a 300km common border with Myanmar. Eventually it hopes to have both rail and road connections with Kunmin in China by way of Myanmar.
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