Following PM Sheikh Hasina's direction in 2014,  Bangladesh Railway carried out a feasibility study for constructing a high-speed rail network between Dhaka and Chattogram.

However, the project was apparently put on the back burner considering the huge amount of money -- Tk 93,35,0.93 crore ($1=Tk 84) -- required for its implementation, reports The Daily Star.

In a recent development, China has proposed carrying out the project under the government-to-government-Public Private Partnership (PPP) framework, bringing it back into discussion, the Bangladeshi newspaper reported.

The country has also selected China Railway Group Ltd (CREC), a state-run company, for implementing the project, which will cost more than three times the expenditure for Padma Bridge (Tk 30,193 crore), the newspaper reported.

Li Jiming, the Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, in April wrote to Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan for signing a memorandum of understanding between CREC and BR "as soon as possible".

Moreover, the ambassador expected that an MoU would be inked between the two governments in "near future" to embark on the high-speed rail project under the G2G-PPP framework.