Passenger Movement Through 'Maitri Setu' Between India And Bangladesh To Start In September

Passenger movement across the India-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge (Maitri Setu) over the Feni River, connecting Tripura with Bangladesh, is set to begin by September this year.

On 9 March 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated this new land bridge, which links the northeastern Indian state of Tripura with Bangladesh.

The 1.9-kilometre-long bridge spans the Feni River, connecting Sabroom district in southern Tripura to Ramgarh in Bangladesh. Announced by Prime Minister Modi in 2015, the double-lane bridge, along with its approach roads, was constructed at a cost of Rs 133 crore by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), a government-owned company under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Named ‘Maitri Setu’ or the Friendship Bridge, it symbolises the growing bilateral relations and friendly ties between India and Bangladesh.

"The Maitri Setu has already been inaugurated. The land port is almost ready... The movement of passengers through the bridge will commence in September. It will take two or three months to introduce goods movement after passenger movement gets underway," Tripura's Industries and Commerce Department Secretary Kiran Gitte said at a press conference last week.

The movement of goods through the bridge is considered strategically important not only for Tripura but also for the entire northeastern region, as the Chittagong port in Bangladesh is just 80 kilometres from Tripura's Sabroom. The Maitri Setu will provide the fastest land route to connect the landlocked North East region via Sabroom to the Chittagong port.