By Andrew Detsch
Bangladesh is one of the world’s poorest countries. But can it afford not to revamp its fledgling Navy?
The tangled avenues of metropolitan Chittagong reveal an abundance of contradictions. On the eastern edge of Bangladesh’s economic capital, rickshaw-laden streets and the dense slum districts, such as Moti Jharna, give way to hulking, maize-colored cranes and endless rows of shipping containers. These massive hoists process hundreds of tons of grain, cement, and sugar at the Chittagong port each day, responsible for 80 percent of the country’s trade. Beyond them the, Bangladeshi navy’s prized frigate, BNS Bangabandhu, stands at the ready in the Karnaphuli River estuary. Named for founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the ship is not only a symbol of Bangladesh’s rapid naval modernization, but also of the increasing militarization of the surrounding Bay of Bengal.
“As a poor developing country, Bangladesh is likely to face many ongoing political and economic challenges in fulfilling its naval modernization agenda,” Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe, a visiting fellow at the University of Canberra told The Diplomat in an interview. Bengalis are among the world’s poorest citizens. GDP per capita stands at $848, and 31.5 percent of Bangladesh’s 153 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Eight million Bengalis survive on less than a dollar a day, and rapid urbanization has caused massive overcrowding. The country’s six largest cities housed 9,048 slums in 2005. That number continues to rise.
Still, for Bangladesh, modernizing the fledgling navy to defend its 700-kilometer coastline is a matter of economic survival. With 90 percent of Bangladeshi trade dependent on sea lines of communication (SLOCs), and vulnerable to maritime threats from India and Myanmar, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina embarked upon an expensive $490 billion revamp of the navy in 2010. India successfully blockaded the Bay of Bengal during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, just before Bangladesh won its independence, and, if it chose to, New Delhi could inflict grave economic damage again with another such barrier.
Read the full story at The Diplomat