1,036km border road along 3 hill districts to act as security belt

A border road along the three hilly districts of Rangamati,  Khagrachhari and Bandarban has brought a drastic change in the topography of the Hill Tracks. The border road is being built to enable surveillance and  prevent cross-border criminal activities.

Bangladesh Army is working to complete the first phase of 317km-road construction along the remote borders with Myanmar and India within 2024. Officials say some 178km of road construction has already been completed and another 139km of the construction work is expected to be completed by middle of June next year.

The main project of the 1,036km Border Road stretches across the three hilly districts of Rangamati, Khagrachhari, and Bandarban. It will help authorities in the fight against militant groups and smugglers and boost trade and tourism.
Though making roads in the inaccessible remote hilly area is a challenging work, officials and soldiers of Bangladesh Army are working restlessly to complete these roads at the earliest.  Almost one-third of the first phase work is visible in several places of Bandarban hill district.

When the border road constructions are completed, a developed road communication system will bolster the border security of the Hill Tracts and expand trade and business with Southeast Asian countries.

Tourism in the scenic hilly areas of Bangladesh will also get a pace with these roads connecting the beautiful landscape in remote areas. Among the nine roads in this phase, five roads share borders with India and three with Myanmar.

Once upon a time, Chittagong Hill Tracts was called a backward region due to inaccessibility to the area, but a new era has begun during the tenure of the incumbent government.

People are now dreaming in a new way centring the border road. The border road will play an important role in education, health, security, information technology, expansion of the tourism industry, and a major change in the quality of life.

The 16, 20 and 26 ad hoc Engineer Construction Battalions under the 34 Engineer Construction Brigade of the Army Corps of Engineers are handling the construction of the border road.

Hirak Lal Boom, a resident of Munlaipara at  Bandarban, said, "Before the border road was built, if someone fell ill, it was very difficult to take the patient to the hospital from here. Currently, we can take patients to Rangamati Sadar Hospital in within two hours."

The government is constructing the 1,036km road, which will take approximately 10 years. The construction of the road to make patrolling the remote areas easier started on January 1 in 2018.

According  to officials of law enforcement and intelligence agencies, several  hundred armed youths are operating in the rugged hills for six factions  of two well-known organisations -- Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati  Samiti (PCJSS Santu Larma faction), PCJSS (MN Larma faction), United  People's Democratic Front (UPDF) and UPDF (democratic).  The Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF), a new armed group, active  mainly at Bandarban area. another, an armed group called the Marma Liberation Party has been active in these border areas, they said.

Local law enforcers said these groups smuggle in arms from insurgents active in India's eastern  states, also known as the Seven Sisters, and Myanmar through the largely unguarded hilly borders with India's Mizoram and Myanmar's Chin states.

Superintendent of Bandarban Police Saikat Sahin told The Daily Observer the government is constructing the 1,036km road to make patrolling the remote areas easier.   "Once the border road is constructed, the trespassing will stop and the illegal arms trading too," SP Saikat said.