TRANSPORTATION

Central to the country’s transportation system are networks waterways, roads, and railways, the latter built mostly during british rule. Inland waterways are important, providing low cost transport and access to areas where land transport would be costly. They carry most of the domestic and foreign cargo. Chief seaportsare Chittagong and Chalna, and there are international airports at Dhaka and Chittagong.
The forms of transport used on Bangladesh’s roads range from automobiles and buses to the bullock cart. Two-wheeled horse-drawn jigs and buffalo carts are still used in the north in Rajshahi. Town and city dwellers both rely largely on the cycle rickshaw and two types of motorized transport, known locally as auto and tempo, both of which are three wheeled. The lightweight cycle rickshaw, which can easily be used on unpaved roads, is the most popular vehicle in towns and villages. The annual inundation that submerge most of the rural roads necessitate the use of so called country boats-flat wooden boats that are handpropelled by means of poles or long paddles.