Would prefer India to implement Teesta project: Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina
The project, with an estimated cost of $1 billion, figured in Hasina’s discussions with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi when she visited New Delhi last month
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said she would prefer India to take up a massive project for the conservation and development of the Bangladeshi section of the Teesta River in the wake of both India and China expressing interest in the venture.
The project, with an estimated cost of $1 billion, figured in Hasina’s discussions with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi when she visited New Delhi last month. Modi said at the time that an Indian technical team will soon visit Dhaka for talks on the conservation and management of the Teesta, one of 54 rivers shared by the two countries.
When Hasina was asked at a news conference in Dhaka on Sunday whether she would go with India or China for the Teesta project, she replied that both countries had made offers for the venture and Bangladesh would make an appropriate decision. The Teesta project, she said, is a long-standing one and has even featured in the ruling Awami League’s manifesto several times.
“We have to implement the Teesta project. China has made an offer to us, they did a feasibility study. India has also made an offer, India will do a feasibility study,” she said, speaking in Bengali.
“After this is done, we will take what is appropriate for us. But I would give greater priority to this being done by India because India has held up the Teesta’s waters. If they have to give us the water, they should implement the project. If they do the project, they will give us what we need,” she said.
The Teesta is the only cross-border river on which India and Bangladesh have been unable to conclude a water-sharing agreement because of objections from the West Bengal government. Under India’s Constitution, the concurrence of state governments is mandatory for such water-sharing agreements.
A draft agreement on sharing Teesta waters was finalised in 2011, but it couldn’t be signed because of opposition from West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who contended the treaty would leave parts of the state dry.
Hasina indicated that if the project is implemented by India, it will have to ensure adequate flow of water in the Teesta as the upper riparian state. “This is diplomacy, there is nothing to hide. China is ready but I want India to do the project because if they do it, India will keep giving what is needed for the project,” she said.
The Indian side has informed Bangladesh about its concerns regarding the project being awarded to any Chinese firm, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Most such big-ticket projects awarded to China are implemented by state-run firms and India has concerns about water flow data and other crucial information being scooped up by the Chinese side, the people said. The site of the proposed Teesta project in Bangladesh will also allow Chinese personnel to establish a presence near the Siliguri Corridor or so-called “chicken’s neck”, the narrow strip of land that links the rest of India with the strategic northeastern region.