Bangladesh prefers India over China to execute $1 billion river project

By Sudhi Ranjan Sen

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said her government would prefer neighboring India execute a $1 billion river development project, a move that would soothe New Delhi’s security concerns.
 

“China is ready but I want India to do the project,” Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told reporters at a press conference in Dhaka on Sunday.

China and India both want to execute the Teesta River Comprehensive Management and Restoration — a Dhaka-led initiative to better manage the river’s waters — as the two nation vie for influence in neighboring Bangladesh.  

The project to develop the river basin of 414 km (257.25 miles) long Teesta river that flows from India into Bangladesh figured prominently in talks during Hasina’s visit to New Delhi in June. The two countries share numerous rivers that flow from the Himalayas into the Bay of Bengal.

An agreement on sharing the river’s water was reached in 2011 but could not be sealed after the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, through which the river flows before it enters Bangladesh, objected to the deal. 

As India has dithered over resolving the issue, China stepped in with its proposal. New Delhi responded earlier this year with its own offer amid security concerns about Chinese engineers working close to its borders.  

“China has made an offer to us, they did a feasibility study. India has also made an offer, and will do a feasibility study,” Hasina said added, “But I would give greater priority to this being done by India because India has held up the Teesta’s waters.”