WASHINGTON — The World Bank today approved $1.03 billion of financing to help improve regional trade in Bangladesh and Nepal by reducing trade and transport costs and transit time along the regional corridors.
The Accelerating Transport and Trade Connectivity in Eastern South Asia
(ACCESS) Program Phase 1 will help the respective
governments address the key barriers to regional trade ─ manual and
paper-based trade processes, inadequate transport and trade infrastructure, and
restrictive trade and transport regulations and processes.
The Phase 1 program
will help replace lengthy manual and paper-based trade
processes with digitized automated solutions in Bangladesh and Nepal. The
automation will enable faster border crossing times and install electronic
tracking of truck entry and exit, electronic queuing, smart parking, and CCTV
cameras. The program will also help improve selected road corridors and upgrade
key land ports and custom infrastructure, while ensuring green and
climate-resilient construction. This will help the integration of landlocked
Bhutan and Nepal with the gateway countries of Bangladesh and India.
The $753.45 million financing for the ACCESS Project in Bangladesh will upgrade the 43 Km section of the two-lane Sylhet-Charkai-Sheola to
a climate-resilient four-lane road, connecting the Sheola Land Port with the
Dhaka-Sylhet Highway. This will cut down travel time by 30 percent. The project
will support digital systems, infrastructure, and more streamlined processes at
Benapole, Bhomra, and Burimari land ports, the three largest land ports
in Bangladesh handling approximately 80 percent of land-based trade. It will
also support the modernization of the Chattogram customs house which handles 90
percent of all import/export declarations in Bangladesh.
“While the trade between Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, and Nepal grew six times from 2015 to 2019, the unexploited potential
for regional trade is estimated at 93 percent for Bangladesh,”
said Mercy Tembon, World Bank Country Director for Bangladesh
and Bhutan. “The project
will help Bangladesh improve regional trade and transport and automation of processes
will build resilience to crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The $275 million ACCESS Project in Nepal will upgrade 69 km two-lane section of Butwal—Gorusinghe—Chanauta road
along the East-West Highway to a climate-resilient four-lane highway, with a
focus on ensuring better road safety. This is expected to reduce travel time by
30 percent, thus providing better access to India’s western seaports. The project
will construct at least three market areas along the highway with dedicated areas
for women entrepreneurs and traders to ensure that women can benefit from the
enhanced economic opportunities. The market areas will be equipped with
separate toilets for women, free Wi-Fi, and digital bulletin boards with timely
trade and market information. It will also support capacity building to enhance
trade and customs processes at Birgunj and Bhairahawa border points. The
project will also help advance Nepal’s preparedness and subsequent
implementation of the Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA).
“Nepal has
large untapped potential for regional trade and exports. Low regional trade is
often a result of the high cost of connectivity,” said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. “The project will help unlock Nepal’s
economic potential through better connectivity and trade, both between the
provinces as well as regionally among Nepal and other countries to support a
green, resilient, and inclusive development.”
It is highly critical to ensure trade growth, long-term sustainability
and resilience of investments, while minimizing actual degradations on the
environment, wildlife and ecosystems along the Nepal’s road network, which
carries 90 percent of passengers and goods movement,” said Oceane Keou, World Bank
Task Team Leader of the Nepal Project and co-Task Team Leader of the Program. “The project will adopt and implement an
innovative green and resilient highway corridor concept in Nepal, based on a
landscape-level development approach.”
In the second
phase, the program will include Bhutan.
“A key focus of the ACCESS program is to support solutions that can most effectively reduce dwell times at trade gateways, which is vital to lowering trade costs. This entails greater border cooperation and coordination within and between countries, cutting down the physical inspection of goods, and simplifying regulations and processes,” said Erik Nora, World Bank Task Team Leader of the program.“
