Bangladesh has taken an initiative to give a fresh impetus to operationalise the subregional motor vehicle agreement (MVA) at an expected level to facilitate free flow of people and goods among the participating countries, officials said.
They said Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) signed the agreement on June 15 in 2015, but its effectiveness has so far remained limited to conducting a few trial runs of private and public transports and freight cargoes.
Bhutan did not ratify the BBIN MVA on ground of environmental conservation, but the three other members carried out the trial runs with consent from the Himalayan nation and formulated draft passenger and cargo protocols, which are yet to be finalised.
Officials said the agreement could not be made fully effective in time due to lack of necessary progress on the pending issues since the last meeting on BBIN MVA held in March last year.
The countries have taken initiatives to study further on various issues as a preparedness to start operationalising the MVA.
Sources said the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) of Bangladesh, the lead agency for the MVA, recently discussed the areas of further studies to identify relevant issues for proper functioning of the agreement.
It also tried to identify the ministries and authorities concerned to work individually so that related policies and plans can be taken in time, they said.
Apart from conducting studies by relevant government agencies, the private sector would also be invited to conduct their own study to make this effort workable and increase trade and businesses within the South Asian sub-region, sources added.
Officials said the meetings held so far on the MVA recommended conducting more specific route-based trial runs as three routes have been identified for seamless movement of all kinds of vehicles.
To make the MVA properly operational, issues like fixing the number of vehicles, categories to be allowed initially to enter Bangladesh or cross its borders, taxation, road standards, etc. needed to be addressed.
"Actually, the consultation done so far was on a limited scale so is the trial runs of vehicles. It is now recommended to identify the routes one by one and arrange trips on a regular basis on a specific route for experiencing issues to be settled down," an official told the FE.
He said standards of vehicles, vehicle types, axle load, number of trips, fees estimation, taxation, licencing, etc. are some of the issues identified during the meetings. More discussions are needed to identify all relevant issues, he added.
Official sources said the groundwork study will help all concerned understand the procedures and their tasks to develop the sub-regional initiative early workable for the economic benefit as the MVA was signed with the target to shorten transport routes, save travel time, lower transport costs, etc.
They said the RHTD has also recommended holding vast consultation with all other concerned to establish a nationwide single window system as well as national and regional coordination and monitoring for ensuring overall performance.
Due to substantially increased traffic from the neighbouring countries, the division also felt the need for its preparedness to upgrade respective corridors into international standards and formulate specific policies.
Under the MVA, two routes through Agartola and Akhaura, Benapole and Patrapole, Kolkata and New Delhi, Kathmandu-Kakarvita, Banglabandha-Mongla and Chattogram were identified for trial runs.
But there are 11 regular and irregular passenger routes between Bangladesh and India, and two routes with Nepal.
Four routes now exist to operate personal vehicles with India and three routes with Nepal.
