South Korea opens infrastructure cooperation centre in Dhaka
The Korea-Bangladesh Infrastructure Cooperation Centre (KBICC) is the 5th Korean government agency’s office in Bangladesh
Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND) has formally launched its office in Dhaka to enhance infrastructure development cooperation with Bangladesh.
The Korean state agency launched the Korea-Bangladesh Infrastructure Cooperation Centre (KBICC), which is the 5th Korean government agency's office in Bangladesh, at a Dhaka hotel on Monday.
The officials of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea said, "With the opening of KBICC, it is expected that public-private partnership (PPP) between the two countries will be reinforced further as field-based approach and smoother communication between relevant authorities as well as private sectors have been enabled."
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At the inauguration ceremony, Lee Jang-keun, ambassador of the Republic of Korea, said, "The opening of KBICC indicates that the Korea-Bangladesh relationship is moving forward."
"It also demonstrates Korea's strong commitment to infrastructure development of one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and it signifies huge potential in this area between the two nations," he added.
"It [KIND] promotes Korean engineering and participation of construction companies in Bangladeshi infrastructure projects through the PPP scheme. With the state-of-the-art technology and ample experiences in infrastructure development, Korea will continue to stand by Bangladesh in its journey toward infrastructure powerhouse," the Korean envoy added.
A number of high-ups from both countries joined the ceremony to celebrate the opening of KBICC.
Lee Kang-hoon, chief executive officer (CEO) of KIND, Muhammad Ibrahim, CEO of Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) and Mostafa Kamal, the President of Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KBCCI) were present at the function.
KIND's main counterpart in Bangladesh is Public Private Partnership Authority.
"Policy for implementing PPP projects through government-to-government (G2G) partnership" issued by PPPA in 2017 laid the foundation for PPP collaboration between KIND and PPPA as the Bangladesh government aims at developing and upgrading public infrastructures with foreign private investors.
Since the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between KIND and PPPA of Bangladesh in April 2019, the two authorities have held four rounds of the annual "Korea-Bangladesh Joint PPP Platform Meeting" to list G2G-based cooperative infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.
As of September 2022, five infrastructure projects are in the pipeline under the G2G framework between the two countries: Meghna Bridge, Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, Dhaka Circular Railway, Matabari-Madunaghat 400kV Transmission Line, and Purbachal New Town Electrical Distribution Line.
After the opening ceremony, PPPA CEO Muhammad Ibrahim told journalists, "KIND and PPPA have jointly identified those five projects to be implemented under PPP. Now, we'll carry out the feasibility studies on these schemes after they are approved by the Cabinet committee formed to oversee PPP projects."
