• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated three projects via virtual mode.

The three projects are:

i) Akhaura-Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link: A key rail link between Tripura’s Nischintapur and Gangasagar in Bangladesh.

ii) The 65-km Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line

iii) Unit 2 of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant in Bangladesh’s Rampal.

• All the three projects are India-assisted development initiatives.

Akhaura-Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link

• The Akhaura-Agartala Cross-Border Rail Link project has been executed under government of India’s grant assistance of Rs 392.52 crore extended to Bangladesh. 

• This is the first rail link between the northeast and Bangladesh.

• The length of the rail link is 12.24 km with a 6.78 km dual gauge rail line in Bangladesh and 5.46 km in Tripura.

• The trial run of the rail project was completed on October 30, after a train from Gangasagar railway station in Brahmanbaria district of Bangladesh arrived at Nischintapur railway station. 

• The cross-border rail project connecting Tripura’s capital Agartala and Akhaura in Bangladesh is expected to boost cross-border trade.

• It would enable Tripura to become the gateway to other northeastern states for trade, connectivity and tourism, and reduce the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Dhaka from 1,600 km to 500 km.

Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line

• As part of the Khulna-Mongla Port Rail Line, a 65-km broad gauge route was constructed between Bangladesh’s Mongla Port and the existing rail network in Khulna.

• With this, Mongla — the second largest port of Bangladesh — gets connected with the broad-gauge railway network. 

• It has been implemented under government of India concessional Line of Credit with a total project cost of $388.92 million.

• The Khulna-Mongla rail link line will help operate trains from Mongla to some of the western destinations of Bangladesh Railways and also to Dhaka via Khulna and Padma Bridge.

Maitree Super Thermal Power Project

• The Maitree Super Thermal Power Project, built under an Indian concessional financing scheme loan of $1.6 billion, is a 1,320 MW plant located at Rampal in the Khulna division of Bangladesh.

• It was implemented by the Bangladesh-India Friendship Power Company Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture between India’s NTPC and the Bangladesh Power Development Board. 

• Unit I of the Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant was unveiled jointly by both Prime Ministers in September 2022. 

• The operationalisation of Maitree Super Thermal Power Plant will enhance energy security in Bangladesh.

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