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Transit demystified, partially

Bithi Mahmuda
The study suggests that Bangladesh needs to invest some $3.5 billion to construct and upgrade necessary infrastructure, including roads and railways. Kibria mentioned that such estimation is to some extent misleading and the study is not officially revealed to public****
Tranjiter Tanaporen
(Transit Quandary) by Asjadul Kibria
Cover Design: Shabbasachy Hajra;
Publisher: Jagriti Prokashani. Price: Tk 160; Pages: 96 (white).
FOR the last two years, the issue of transit has become a hot topic of debate in Bangladesh. After the prime minister's visit to India in January 2010, a series of initiatives have been taken to revamp the Indo-Bangla relationships. The issue of transit is also top on the agenda as it is one of India’s long-standing demands.
But the government's move to provide transit to India sparks debate and discussion among different quarters of the country, which are still going on. Business journalist Asjadul Kibria has tried to briefly outline the course of discussion in his latest book that hits the Ekushey Boimela in Bangla Academy. The writer has written several articles in newspapers and news magazines in the last year to track the transit debate. These articles are compiled in the second part of the book.
In the first part, major issues, including conceptual aspects, relating to transit are discussed with relevant examples. Here, he also tries to explain the difference between transit, transhipment and corridor as well as the guiding principles of transit. Kibria also extracts analyses of experts like MATaslim, Debapriya Bhattachrya and Monjur Ahmed. He makes it clear that blindly opposing transit to oppose India is not a logical option and rather, skilful negotiation is a must to gain from transit.
In this context, he nicely summarised two recent studies on transit and also pointed out some limitations. A study conducted by Asian Development Bank identified that Bangladesh would be able to earn $50 million annually during the initial five years as transit fee. Later, based on up-gradation and construction of necessary infrastructure, annual earnings will be $500 million in the midterm and will reach $ 1 billion in the long-term.
The study suggests that Bangladesh needs to invest some $3.5 billion to construct and upgrade necessary infrastructure, including roads and railways. Kibria mentioned that such estimation is to some extent misleading and the study is not officially revealed to public. He rather inclined to agree with the study conducted by Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, which calculated that some $15-$30 million could be made in return of investment worth $100 million for limited transit, mainly based on railways.
A significant thing in this section is revealing some fact-figures and observations made by the core committee on transit headed by the chairman of Bangladesh Tariff Commission in its comprehensive report. Although the committee submitted the report to the government in September, it has not been made public yet. Kibria's apprehension is that two advisers actually shelved the report, as they are not happy with the recommendations.
A compilation of the articles, published in different periods of 2011, will help readers understand the moves in transit of that particular period. It is interesting to note that Kibria heavily came down on the controversial role of two advisers to the Prime Minister and categorically shows how they are misinterpreting international rules and misguiding people.
In more than one article, Kibria pointed out that Bangladesh has no legal bindings to allow India-to-India transit, which is basically a corridor facility. He draws relevant paragraphs of GATT article V (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) of The World Trade Organisation (WTO) to nullify distorted argument that under WTO rule, Bangladesh could not collect any fees or charges for transit.
There are some pictures, maps and statistics to help understand the subject. The language is lucid. The book is written in Bengali except two English articles. A list of the references is good. But there is a good opportunity to make the book more informative with historical context. The writer slightly touches the area only. Moreover, some discussions appeared more biased and not based on facts. A few observations may be misguiding unless read very attentively. Despite the limitations, it is an effort to demystify the issue of transit to the people.
The writer teaches in a college in Dhaka.