Reuters :
Bangladesh may shelve an $8 billion deepwater port project it has been negotiating with China, a government minister said on Thursday, as it looks to pursue a nearby facility financed by the Japanese instead.
Such a decision would be a setback for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt One Road” initiative to build a network of ports and expressways and help expand trade, investment and influence in the region.
Dhaka has cleared Japan’s proposal to finance and build a seaport in Matarbarhi, located some 25 km from Sonadia, where Beijing had offered to construct the country’s first deep water port, Planning Minister Mustafa Kamal said.
He told Reuters that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had offered 80 percent financing on easy terms to build four coal-fired power plants of 600 MW each and a port complex in Matarbarhi.
That offer prompted a review of whether the Sonadia project was needed at all.
“Matarbarhi is designed in such a way that it will be comprehensive, with power plants, an LNG terminal and a port,” he said in a telephone interview.
“Matarbarhi is sufficient, we may have to give up the other port project,” he said, adding that the government was still reviewing the proposals.
Two Japanese companies, Sumitomo Corp and Marubeni Corporation, have bid to participate in the power plant construction project.
A Sumitomo spokesman said the project was in the early stages, and “nothing has been decided.”
Marubeni declined to comment, while JICA said a loan agreement had been signed with Bangladesh for the power plant and that the project was in the procurement stage.
Shamsul Alam, senior secretary of Bangladesh’s Planning Commission, said JICA, the main conduit for Japan’s overseas development aid, had offered $3.7 billion at an interest rate of 0.1 percent over 30 years with an initial 10-year grace period to build the $4.6 billion port and power complex in Matarbarhi.
“We are going ahead with the Matarbarhi seaport and power plants as JICA is financing the project,” Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told Reuters.
Bangladesh may shelve an $8 billion deepwater port project it has been negotiating with China, a government minister said on Thursday, as it looks to pursue a nearby facility financed by the Japanese instead.
Such a decision would be a setback for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt One Road” initiative to build a network of ports and expressways and help expand trade, investment and influence in the region.
Dhaka has cleared Japan’s proposal to finance and build a seaport in Matarbarhi, located some 25 km from Sonadia, where Beijing had offered to construct the country’s first deep water port, Planning Minister Mustafa Kamal said.
He told Reuters that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had offered 80 percent financing on easy terms to build four coal-fired power plants of 600 MW each and a port complex in Matarbarhi.
That offer prompted a review of whether the Sonadia project was needed at all.
“Matarbarhi is designed in such a way that it will be comprehensive, with power plants, an LNG terminal and a port,” he said in a telephone interview.
“Matarbarhi is sufficient, we may have to give up the other port project,” he said, adding that the government was still reviewing the proposals.
Two Japanese companies, Sumitomo Corp and Marubeni Corporation, have bid to participate in the power plant construction project.
A Sumitomo spokesman said the project was in the early stages, and “nothing has been decided.”
Marubeni declined to comment, while JICA said a loan agreement had been signed with Bangladesh for the power plant and that the project was in the procurement stage.
Shamsul Alam, senior secretary of Bangladesh’s Planning Commission, said JICA, the main conduit for Japan’s overseas development aid, had offered $3.7 billion at an interest rate of 0.1 percent over 30 years with an initial 10-year grace period to build the $4.6 billion port and power complex in Matarbarhi.
“We are going ahead with the Matarbarhi seaport and power plants as JICA is financing the project,” Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told Reuters.
