India could help build Padma bridge: Analyst
With the World Bank withdrawing financial support for constructing the Padma bridge in Bangladesh, a leading strategic affairs analyst of India has suggested India help resolve Dhaka's dispute with WB or offer partial financial backing for the project.
However, when asked at a media interaction in Delhi on Tuesday whether Dhaka would approach India for Padma bridge funding, Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes said the issue did not come up at the Foreign Office Consultations yesterday nor is he aware of any India's offer to undertake the project.
“Might Delhi and Beijing collaborate on a transformative economic venture in Bangladesh and build a new basis for India-China regional cooperation in the Subcontinent?” writes C Raja Mohan, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a think-tank in India.
'If China takes a strategic decision to back the project, finances should be no problem. Senior officials in Dhaka have been hinting that a Chinese company based in Australia is interested in forming a consortium of companies to move the project forward,” he said in an article published in “The Indian Express”.
He said Delhi could help Dhaka resolve issues with the WB and Washington, or India could offer part of the financial support to the project and encourage its large construction companies to build a consortium with Chinese corporations.
Raja Mohan also suggested that India and China could cooperate in constructing a deep-sea port off Sonadia.
“Besides serving the commercial needs of Bangladesh, the Sonadia port could become a regional shipping hub for north-eastern India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China's Yunnan province,” he said.
Raja Mohan, however, said that any talk of China building ports in South Asia raises red flag in Delhi. But India's strategic community should see that Beijing is signalling its interest in the joint development of the Sonadia port with India.
“For now though, the ball is in the court of Dhaka, which must develop a sensible framework for attracting foreign participation in the Sonadia project,” he said.
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