Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi jointly flag off the construction of India-Bangladesh Friendship Product Pipeline Project between Shiliguri in West Bengal and Parbatipur in Dinajpur through a videoconference from their respective capitals on Tuesday afternoon.

Earlier, India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said, the project will go a long way in strengthening Indo-Bangla ties, reports newsonair.com.

Both countries had entered into an agreement for the pipeline construction in April this year during India’s Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale’s visit to Dhaka. The 130-kilometre pipeline will connect Siliguri in West Bengal in India and Parbatipur in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh. The estimated project cost will be 346 crore rupees and it will be completed in 30 months time.

The capacity of the pipeline will be 1 million metric tons per annum. The six-kilometre Indian leg of the pipeline project will be implemented by the Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Limited and the remaining 124 kilometres of the pipeline project will be implemented by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation. The project will replace the existing practice of sending diesel by rail covering a distance of 510 kilometres.