Dhaka - To dispel Bangladesh's concern over construction of a dam upstream of the country, New Delhi on Monday offered to allow Dhaka officials to visit the construction site. Bangladesh has asked its neighbour to refrain from constructing the multi-purpose dam, at the confluence of The Barak and Tuivai rivers, since India solicited international bids in early 2006.

"We invited Bangladesh to send a delegation to see what exactly we planned to do. We don't see there will be any downstream affect," said Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Sankar Menon, who arrived in Dhaka Sunday to meet his Bangladeshi counterpart Touhid Hossain.

The Barak River feeds Bangladesh's Surma and Kushiyara rivers in the north-east, eventually flowing into Meghna, one of the three main rivers in Bangladesh.

India plans to complete the project by 2012.

"Let us sit together and you will tell us what is your fear. What you worry about. We will also tell you what we plan to do. That is the normal way between friends," said the Indian secretary, who also called on Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Foreign Minister Dipu Moni and army chief Moeen U Ahmed.

Hossain said Dhaka fears the proposed dam would lead to desertification in some parts of the country.

"We never want water flow in Bangladesh's major rivers to be affected by such construction."

He said the government was considering sending a delegation of both technical experts and political leaders to the site. (dpa)