Daccanomics
The India-Bangladesh friendship diesel pipeline will be officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart today afternoon (March 18). The inauguration of the pipeline will be done via video conference.
This 130-km pipeline will be exclusively used for diesel transportation from India to Bangladesh, marking a significant milestone in their bilateral ties. The pipeline stretches 125 km inside Bangladesh territory and 5 km inside India, and it will have the capacity to transport one million metric tonnes per year (MMTPA) of high-speed diesel.
The project, which cost around 3.77 billion Indian rupees, was funded by the Indian government under grant assistance. This initiative is expected to benefit the economy of both countries, promote bilateral trade, and enhance energy security in Bangladesh.
The pipeline will initially provide high-speed diesel to seven districts in northern Bangladesh, where there is a high demand for fuel. This development is significant, as it will help reduce transportation costs and bring down the prices of diesel in Bangladesh, thereby benefiting the common people. Earlier, Bangladesh used railway carriages to import diesel from India.
A long-term agreement was signed in 2017 to import diesel from India to Bangladesh through the pipeline, which stretches from West Bengal’s Siliguri to a Meghna petroleum depot in Dinajpur’s Parbatipur, BDNews reported.
