The Dohazari-Cox's Bazar-Gundum railway project will be implemented keeping the environment in mind, said Md Feroz Salah Uddin, secretary of the railways ministry, yesterday in Chittagong.

The construction will start coming March, he told journalists after a views-exchange meeting with forest and environment department officials at the Deputy Commissioner's office.

“A portion of the project will go through some parts of the reserved forest areas in Ramu, often roamed by elephants. That's why we took opinions of officials,” he said.

He said they have also talked about building overpass among others and if needed, will have more sessions to discuss other options. “We are trying to construct an environment-friendly rail track,” he said.

The secretary said the project's cost has been estimated at around Tk 18,000 crore and Asian Development Bank (ADB) will finance the major portion -- Tk 13,115 crore. “The project will be implemented as per their guidelines,” he said.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council approved the project on April 19.

During the project's first stage, the 100km rail track from Dohazari to Cox's Bazar via Ramu would be constructed while the 28km rail track from Ramu to Gundum near Myanmar would be implemented in the second, says railway sources.