Bangladesh seeks Japanese investment to upgrade Nabinagar-Manikganj-Paturia road to expressway

Bangladesh is seeking investment from Japan to upgrade the Nabinagar-Manikganj-Paturia road to an expressway under the public-private partnership (PPP) model. 

The Roads and Highways Department presented a proposal in this regard at the fourth meeting of the Bangladesh-Japan joint PPP platform on Wednesday.

At the meeting, Mitsubishi Corporation officials expressed interest in operating the third terminal of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. They presented a project titled "Concession for Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and Developments of Surrounding Area".

Both parties are keen to implement the projects, said officials who attended the meeting. The progress of five other predefined projects costing $8.38 billion was also discussed.  

The Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) Bangladesh and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan jointly organised the meeting virtually.

Salman F Rahman, private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister, told the meeting that PPP under the government-to-government (G2G) modality is the best way to meet the funds needed to develop infrastructure in Bangladesh.

He encouraged Japanese private entrepreneurs to partner with their Bangladesh counterparts to implement PPP projects.

Nomura Masafumi, MLIT vice-minister, appreciated the support of PPPA and the Bangladesh government to strengthen the partnership between Japanese investors and government agencies. 

He assured his country's commitment to continuing to work with Bangladesh to implement the proposed PPP projects.

Tofazzel Hossain Miah, secretary to the Prime Minister's Office, emphasised selecting and implementing large-scale infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, which would be a win-win situation for both countries. 

Ito Naoki, Japanese ambassador to Bangladesh, said Bangladesh would benefit from implementing PPP projects with Japanese partnership through the transfer of technical knowledge, reduced risk exposure, and the availability of capital.

Sultana Afroz, secretary and chief executive officer of PPPA, in her welcome speech highlighted the "Policy for Implementing PPP Projects through Government to Government (G2G) Partnership 2017" under which Japan and Bangladesh are in the process of implementing large-scale infrastructure projects. 

Amakawa Hirofumi, assistant vice-minister of MLIT, hoped that the decision-making process would be a little faster. 

At the meeting, the construction of multimodal transport hub Kamalapur Railway Station project was presented by Kajima Corporation of Japan.

The Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway project, to be developed into a four-lane expressway, was presented by Marubeni Corporation. 

The progress of the Dhaka outer ring road project was presented by the Roads and Highways Department.

Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited presented the detailed design, construction, operation, and maintenance of Mass Rapid Transit MRT line-2 project.

The construction of multimodal transport hub Airport Railway Station project was presented by Mitsubishi Corporation.

These five projects will require investments amounting to $8.38 billion from Japan.

In addition to the previous projects, two new projects were discussed at the meeting.

Dr Ahmad Kaikaus, principal secretary to the prime minister, and Shahabuddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi envoy to Japan, joined the meeting among others.

Secretaries to the ministries concerned, senior government officials, private investors, and representatives of financial institutions also attended the meeting.