| The government is set to begin a seismic survey of the Bay of Bengal from this month (October) with a view to submitting a country report to the United Nations for arbitration to identify the country's maritime boundary in the Bay in accordance with the UN Convention on the Law of Sea (UNCLOS) 1982.
Sources at the foreign ministry said that the seismic survey would be conducted by a company from the Netherlands at a cost of Tk 80 crore.
The finance ministry already allocated the money (Tk 80 crore) on September 27 last for conducting the survey, sources added.
A high official at the foreign ministry yesterday told The Independent that a proposal to conduct the seismic survey was prepared by the ministry and it would be sent to the cabinet division for placing it at the meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs for approval.
"Work order would be given to the foreign company after getting nod of the cabinet committee and the survey would commence from this month to be completed by March, 2010," he said.
"We have to submit necessary documents to the UN by July 26, 2011. So that we need to prepare a final country report on the issue by June, 2011, after completion of the survey by March next year at any cost."
The official also said that the country might lose its territory in the Bay if it does not submit the country report on sea boundary. "Already our neighbouring countries India and Myanmar have submitted their country reports on the issue before the UN after completion of seismic survey," he added.
The official also said that the survey company of the Netherlands would also process the data of survey and would help in placing the country report before the UN.
According to the proposal, the survey would be conducted in around 4,000 kilometre areas in the Bay of Bengal.
Three categories of desk-top study have already been completed on the basis of data from the public domain and foreign research organisations. The foreign ministry has prepared a draft report on sea boundary by engaging a local technical team coordinated by the experts from New Hampshire University in the US, the proposal says.
Sources said, Bangladesh has failed in delimiting its maritime boundary in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS since 1982. The neighbouring countries India and Myanmar completed demarcation of their maritime boundaries, they added.
On several occasions, these two countries have kept on carrying out aggressive exploration of gas and oil in the disputed areas adjacent to or even within Bangladesh territorial waters.
They also did not bother to inform Bangladesh while engaging international oil companies (IOCs) to explore in the disputed areas, sources added.
The disputed areas in the Bay are believed to hold huge reserves of natural gas, lying some 50 nautical miles off Saint Martin's Island.
UN Convention on the Law of Sea, entered into force on 27 July 2001, establishes a comprehensive legal framework to regulate all ocean space, its uses and resources.
In 1974, Bangladesh enacted the Territorial Water and Maritime Zones Act through parliament. Bangladesh declared straight baselines selecting eight imaginary base points following the 10-fathom line or over-60 feet deep water except west of Elephant Point / St. Martin's Island.
Bangladesh also claimed 12 nautical miles (nm) of territorial water, 18nm Contiguous Zone (24nm allowed under UNCLOS 1982) 200 nm Economic Zone amounting to about 40,000 sq miles of sea area and Continental shelf, (350nm allowed under UNCLOS 1982). ; |