Bangladesh favours US$4.6bn Japanese port plan over rival Chinese scheme, says minister
Such a decision would hit President Xi Jinping’s 'One Belt One Road' initiative to build network of ports and expressways and help expand trade, investment and influence in region
Bangladesh may shelve an US$8 billion deepwater port project it has been negotiating with China, a government minister said, as it looks to pursue a nearby facility financed by the Japanese instead.
Such a decision would be a setback for 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 Matarbari, 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 said the Japan International Cooperation Agency had offered 80 per cent financing on easy terms to build four coal-fired power plants of 600 MW each and a port complex in Matarbari.
That offer prompted a review of whether the Sonadia project was needed at all.
“Matarbari 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.