New Delhi: China and India both have proposed to implement the Teesta Basin Development Project and will conduct separate feasibility studies. It is India that Bangladesh prefer to execute the $1 billion river development project figured in Hasina’s discussions with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi when she visited New Delhi last month. PM Modi said at the time that an Indian technical team will soon visit Dhaka for talks on the conservation and management of the Teesta, one of 54 rivers shared by the two countries.
The Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud was in New Delhi recently to attend a Retreat of the foreign ministers of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) countries. During his visit, Mahmud met Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and discussed the issue of sending a technical team for the conservation and management of the Teesta River Basin.
The comments made by Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina may be perceived as expressing her displeasure on the outcomes achieved from her recent China trip.
Despite this, she emphasised that in the bilateral meeting with President Xi, China agreed to provide assistance amounting to US$ 2 billion to Bangladesh. They also agreed that China would build the 9th Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge, but China’s evasive approach towards Teesta water conservation and associated SEZ project has made Bangladesh to calibrate on the choices it made.
Therefore, favouring its next door neighbour, India to implement the Teesta river conservation and management project. However, Hasina apparently stated Bangladesh’s preference for India, as India is central to resolving the water-sharing issues.
Hasina said that the project, to develop the river basin of 414 km long Teesta river that flows from India into Bangladesh, has been long-standing and has also featured several times in the manifesto of the ruling Awami League party. Hasina said she would give greater priority to the project being done by India because the neighbouring country has held up Teesta’s waters.
However, Teesta is the only cross-border river on which India and Bangladesh have been unable to conclude a water-sharing agreement due to objections from the West Bengal government. It is worth mentioning here that under the Constitution of India, the concurrence of state governments is mandatory for such water-sharing agreements.
In 2011, a draft agreement on sharing Teesta waters was finalised, but it couldn’t be signed because of opposition from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who claimed that the treaty would leave parts of the state dry.
As India has dithered over resolving the issue, China jumped in with its proposal.
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.
Earlier this year, India expressed security concerns about Chinese engineers working close to its border if China was awarded the project.The Indian side has informed Bangladesh about its concerns regarding the project being awarded to any Chinese firm. New Delhi has also responded with its own offer for the Teesta project to Bangladesh.
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.
Thus, the site of the proposed Teesta project in Bangladesh will also allow the Chinese personnel to establish a leverage and 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.
Hence, collaboration on multifaceted projects are quintessential for both India and Bangladesh to flourish their partnerships and advance their national interests as well. Prime Minister Modi highlighted Bangladesh’s strategic position at the intersection of India’s Neighbourhood First, Act East, SAGAR and Indo-Pacific policies. Regional stability is quite important from security point of view. Bangladesh, in turn, views India as a key partner in its Neighborhood Foreign Policy for ensuring shared peace and prosperity.
