The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is interested in financing the construction of the chord line of railway from Dhaka to Cumilla via Narayanganj through which it will take only two hours to go to Chottagram from the capital.

A delegation of ADB led by its Vice President Shixin Chen expressed their willingness of funding the railway project during a meeting with Planning Minister MA Mannan today.

After the meeting, Planning Minister MA Mannan said, "ADB is willing to give as much money as we want for the development of railways."

It can be said that they are ready with a kind of blank check for the financing, the minister said while briefing the media.

"But Bangladesh has to come up with a reasonable proposal. They also want to give priority to financing in railways," Mannan said.

He also said that the country's priority in the railway sector is to upgrade meter gauge to broad gauge and single track to double track.

In the meeting, it was discussed that the construction of the chord line will reduce the distance from Dhaka to Chattogram by 100 kilometre. Initially, a feasibility study would be conducted for the project.

Addressing media, Manmohan Parkash, deputy director general of the South Asia Department of ADB, said If you construct a double-track new broadband line from Laksham to Narayanganj, the distance from Dhaka to Chattogram will come down to 220 kilometre.

Anyone could go to Chattogram in 90 minutes from Dhaka nonstop, he said adding that then the Dhaka-Chattogram route will become an economic corridor.

Bangladesh Railway (BR) is implementing a 30-year master plan for 2016 to 2045 divided into six phases. A total of 230 projects, with an estimated cost of Tk 5,53,662 crore, have been proposed in the plan.

And currently, nine projects are being implemented with ADB loans of about Tk 23, 337.07 crore. India, China, Japan and South Korea are financing 10 more BR projects.

BR is seeking loans for five priority projects --- construction of a new Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Gazipur's Dhirasram; conversion of Laksam-Pahartali metre gauge (MG) double track to dual gauge (DG) double-track; conversion of Chattogram-Dohazari MG track to DG track; conversation of Tongi-Bhairab Bazar-Akhaura MG double track into DG double track; and construction of a chord line from Dhaka to Cumilla via Narayanganj.

Except for the ICD project, the other projects are related to the development of the Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox's Bazar corridor, the most important transport corridor in Bangladesh. BR has already completed the feasibility study for this under technical assistance with ADB's loan.