Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on October 27, 2020 announced that the 1.8 kilometre long Feni bridge connecting Sabrum in Tripura with Ramgarh in Bangladesh will be completed by December 2020.
- The Feni bridge is being built at the cost of Rs. 129 crore.
- The distance between Sabrum and Chittagong is 75 kms, and the bridge will ease the transportation of goods from Chittagong and Kolkata ports.
- An integrated check post is also proposed to be built near Sabrum.
- The construction of the RCC bridge over Feni will improve connectivity to the international border with Bangladesh.
About Feni River
- The Feni river originates in the South Tripura district, passes through Sabroom town on the Indian side, and meets the Bay of Bengal after it flows into Bangladesh.
- Feni River forms border between India’s northeastern Tripura state and Khagrachari district of Bangladesh.
MoU on Feni Water Sharing
- In 2019, Bangladesh had allowed India to withdraw 1.82 cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water from the Feni river. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on October 5, 2019 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when the latter was on a visit to India.
- India and Bangladesh share as many as 54 rivers and there is only one agreement between them — to share the waters of the Ganga river that was signed in December 1996.
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