Let me say now that there is very little actual truth in any of the article itself, albeit that may be some kind of "misunderstanding" between Wagner, The Minister and your Reporter.

The Germans have constructed a track in China at huge expense and there is absolutely no way that their system is going to be economically viable at the vast cost of circa US$60M per km to construct it. Additionally in your article you have mentioned the names of other bidders, but have again missed out the other bidder for the Bangladesh project which is American Maglev Technology, otherwise referred to as "AMT".

AMT's maglev system is in fact the only economically viable maglev system in the world at this time and it works out at around less than one third of the cost of the German technology and additionally has the backing of a large US Corporation.

Now with all said and done, the project between Dhaka and Chittagong is definitely feasible but not at anywhere near the costs that have been reported in your paper. I would estimate that using the American maglev system the one way fare from Dhaka to Chittagong would be around US$12-US$15 depending on a number of factors including how many cargo containers are carried on the trip. As you will be aware, apart from passengers the maglev system is ideal for carrying of cargo such as 20' and 40' containers and it will be a balance between that and number of passengers that will determine the price of course. One must also bear in mind that the risk of this project will, if it proceeds on a BOT basis, rest with the investors and not the taxpayer. Our company is prepared to invest the money required both for this and the Dhaka City to Zia Airport project and we of course shall expect to make this a financially viable project.