India hands over 88 A/C buses to Bangladesh

Bangladesh has launched 88 India-made air-conditioned buses it procured under a USD 800 million Indian line of credit, officials said today.
"The prime minister (Sheikh Hasina) inaugurated the buses at a ceremony at her Ganobhaban official residence" yesterday, a spokesman of the premier's office said.
A senior communication ministry official said the delivery of the buses ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival came as a timely asset to tens of thousands of Muslims as these vehicles could be used to ferry them to their homes across Bangladesh during the festival.
Officials said the buses were supplied by Ashok Leyland under a project to procure three types of buses by the state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation.

An Indian high commission statement said the project for procurement of 290 Double Decker Buses, 50 Articulated Buses and the 88 A/C buses at the cost of USD 36.85 million was included in the Indian credit line in August 2010.
"Delivery of all the 290 buses was completed on 30th October 2012 and the 50 articulated buses in April 2013. Procurement of 88 A/C buses is the last component of this project," it said.

The development came two days after Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran handed over Bangladeshi Finance Minister AMA Muhith a cheque of USD 50 million as the third tranche of India's USD 200 million grant for Bangladesh, an amount which previously was part of the USD 1 billion credit line.

"With this, India has completed the disbursement of USD 150 million (approximately Taka 1,176 crore) grant assistance to Bangladesh," as committed by the Indian government to Bangladesh, the statement said.
In August 2010, India signed with Dhaka a USD 1 billion credit agreement to finance Bangladesh's 14 infrastructure projects mostly in communication sector offering the amount as a soft loan.
The amount was the biggest India offered to any foreign country at 1.75 per cent interest rate with a repayment period of 20 years, including a grace period of 5 years.
But as a gesture of generosity, New Delhi in May 2012 converted USD 200 million of the USD 1 billion credit line into "grants-in-aid" for projects of priority to Bangladesh.