Agartala, September 25, 2019: Aiming Bangladeshi investors and industrialists, the Centre will set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tripura’s border town of Sabroom, which is 70-km away from Chittagong sea port of Bangladesh, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said.
“To finalise the SEZ, the Joint Secretary of the Commerce and the Industry Ministry has called a meeting in New Delhi on October 4,” Deb told the media on Tuesday night.
“After the completion of a bridge over river Feni by March 2020, the surface communication between the proposed SEZ and the Chittagong international sea port would be much easier. High-quality roads were also being constructed on the two sides.”
Deb added that the Bangladeshi and other industrialists and investors can set up tea and rubber based industries in the proposed SEZ.
“The valued scraps of ships are available in Bangladesh. By these precious materials, various industries also can set up in the SEZ. We would get sincere support from Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with whom I have a very cordial relation. She is slated to visit Tripura next month.”
The Chief Minister said that to set up a SEZ, 25 acre of land was required.
“We have sought relaxations to set up the SEZ. The Centre has relaxed some provision for the SEZ. We would also modify some provisions in our industrial policies to facilitate the setting up of the SEZ,” Deb added.
Spending Rs 1,150 crore, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has already extended railway lines up to two bordering sub-divisional towns of Sabroom and Belonia.
Besides, the government-owned IRCON International Limited (IRCON) has also been laying 12.23 km railway tracks at a cost of Rs 972 crore to link the Agartala station with the Bangladeshi railway network at Akhaura.
The Agartala-Akhaura railway line, would facilitate ferrying of goods to and from both the countries and greatly benefit the land-locked northeastern states.
Also, the journey time between Agartala and Kolkata, via Bangladesh, would be reduced by a third, from 1,613-km through mountainous terrain to a mere 514 km.
