Cox's Bazar will join the railway network today when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar railway line.

Bangladesh Railway will start passenger train service on December 1.

In a separate programme, the premier will also inaugurate the channel of the country's first deep-sea port in Maheshkhali's Matarbari today and lay the foundation stone of its first terminal.

Numerous banners and festoons put up along the roads have given the coastal district a festive look.

These two projects are among the several mega projects being implemented in the district, which has already drawn international attention for sheltering 1.2 million Rohingyas from Myanmar.

Cox's Bazar is also an integral part of the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt or BIG-B initiative, being jointly implemented by Bangladesh and Japan aiming to accelerate industrial agglomeration.

Transport expert Prof Md Hadiuzzaman said apart from opening the rail line, the government is also expanding the Cox's Bazar airport runway to upgrade it to an international airport.

It is building the much-needed deep-sea port in the district, and planning to expand the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway to a four-lane one, he said.

"So, with the multi-modal integration and direct access facilities, Cox's Bazar is being turned into a regional transport hub," Hadiuzzaman told The Daily Star.

Now, the authorities have to work to turn the entire corridor stretching from South Chattogram to Cox's Bazar into an economic corridor with proper land use plan, he added.

RAIL LINE

The government in 2010 had taken up the project to lay metre-gauge track from Dohazari of Chattogram to Ghundum of Bandarban spending Tk 1,852.35 crore.

But it later changed its plan and decided to build the dual-gauge line to Cox's Bazar town. As a result, the cost shot up to Tk 18,034.47 crore.

The government backed out on constructing the rail line to Ghundum border because Myanmar did not take any step to build a rail line to its border, source said.

The 102km Dohazari-Cox's Bazar rail line is part of the Trans-Asian Railway Network. There are nine new stations on the route.

Although the project, funded by the Asian Development Bank, was supposed to be completed within June 2013, laying of tracks began in March 2018.

The prime minister will inaugurate the line at a programme at the oyster-shaped railway station near Cox's Bazar town at 11:00am.

Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujon yesterday said train services on the Dhaka-Cox's Bazar route would begin on December 1 with an inter-city train.

DEEP-SEA PORT

The government in March 2020 had taken up the project to build the country's first deep-sea port in Matarbari aiming to enhance its port logistics capacity to boost export and import.

Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is jointly implementing the Tk 17,777.20 crore project.

The CPA is building the port while the RHD is constructing the road to connect the port with the national highway. Japan is proving a loan for the project.

Hasina will lay the foundation stone of the port's first terminal at a programme at the port site at 2:30pm today. The port is likely to be opened by 2026.

Although the construction of the terminal is yet to start, a 14.3-km artificial navigation channel, stretching from the terminal to the sea, has been built.

Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited has built the channel under the Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal Fired Power Project. On September 20, it handed over responsibility for the operation of the channel to the CPA.

The PM will also inaugurate the channel today.

According to shipping ministry, the deep-sea port will be a game-changer for Bangladesh economy as it would be able to handle container ships with a capacity of 8000 TEU.

TEU, or a twenty foot equivalent unit, is the standard measure of container capacity on a ship.