The 130-kilometre India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline Projec will connect Siliguri in West Bengal in India and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday described the cooperation between India and Bangladesh as an example for the world as he and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated the construction of a friendship pipeline project through video conferencing.
PM Modi and Hasina inaugurated the work of the pipeline from their respective capitals, New Delhi and Dhaka, this afternoon.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, also joined the proceedings.
Both countries had entered into an agreement for the pipeline construction in April this year during Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s visit to Dhaka.
The 346 crore rupees project will be completed in 30 months and the capacity of the pipeline will be one million metric tons per annum.
Called the India-Bangladesh Friendship pipeline, the 130-km pipeline is aimed at pumping Indian oil to Bangladesh with an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes.
Besides the pipeline, the two leaders also inaugurated the construction of the third and fourth dual-gauge rail lines in Dhaka-Tongi section and the dual-gauge rail line in Tongi-Joydebpur section of Bangladesh Railway.
Speaking on the occasion, Modi described the cooperation between the two countries as an “example for the world”. He said the two are geographically neighbours and emotionally family.
PM Modi emphasised that the jointly inaugurated Indo-Bangla pipeline will massively help in strengthening the economy of Bangladesh. In particular, this pipeline will help fulfil energy needs at cheaper rates.
PM Modi said Dhaka-Tongi-Joydebpur Railway project will improve connectivity between the two countries and generate more revenue.Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina sought India’s continued support and cooperation for Bangladesh’s development.
