Country Listing

Bangladesh Table of Contents

Bangladesh

Transportation and Communications

Rivers: Extensive and complex network of some 700 rivers. Major systems Jamuna-Brahmaputra, Padma-Ganges, Surma-Meghna, and Padma-Meghna, all of which flow south to Mouths of the Ganges and into Bay of Bengal. Fifth major system Karnaphuli in Chittagong region. Primary transportation system employing nearly 300,000 small and medium-sized sail-and human-powered country boats. About 8,430 kilometers of navigable waterways.

Roads: About 10,890 kilometers of motorable roads in 1986. Despite severe flooding, increasingly important means of moving people and goods. Extensive network of bridges and ferries cross numerous inland waterways.

Railroads: About 2,818 kilometers of track in 1986. Operated by Bangladesh Railways, declining numbers of rolling stock as 1980s progressed.

Ports: Chittagong and Chalna major freight-handling ports.

Airports: Largest near Dhaka (Zia International Airport) and at Chittagong and Sylhet. National carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines serving twenty-four cities in twenty countries; domestic service to eighteen regional airports.

Data as of September 1988