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Bangladesh has formally proposed JICA fund five large infrastructure projects including two in Matarbari area under the 40th ODA loan package, officials said.
The government of Japan provides ODA (official development assistance) loan to Bangladesh through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The Economic Relations Division (ERD) at a recent inter-ministerial meeting unanimously decided to propose these projects for the 40th ODA package. A formal letter was sent to JICA in this regard last week, ERD additional secretary Shahidul Islam told the FE on Monday.
Before that JICA requested ERD to send a formal proposal, seeking Japan government's fund for these projects.
The five projects are: Matarbari Port Development project, Matarbari Ultra Supercritical Coal-Fired Power project, Dhaka Mass Rapid Transit Development project, Foreign Direct Investment Promotion project and Energy Efficiency and Conservation Promotion Financing project.
Earlier in September, Japan fielded the second fact- finding mission to assess the present conditions of these projects.
The mission verified and consolidated necessary data or information, reviewed the current status of preparation and discussed further details of the projects with the authorities concerned.
The mission had meetings with shipping ministry, power division, road transport and highways division, Prime Minister's Office, finance division, Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority and Chittagong Port Authority, among others.
Mr Islam said the five infrastructure projects are very important for Bangladesh's socio-economic development.
Especially, the projects at Matarbari are crucial, he said.
Earlier in June this year, a loan deal of 2.655 billion yen was signed between ERD and JICA under 39th ODA for technical assistance relating to Matarbari Port Development project, officials said.
Work is underway to appoint adviser for the project and prepare the development project proposal (DPP), they added.
They also said the estimated cost of Matarbari Ultra Supercritical Coal-Fired Power project is Tk 360 billion of which JICA will provide nearly Tk 290 billion. Deal was signed with JICA under several ODA loan packages.
The construction work of the 1,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant is underway, they added. Data showed that Bangladesh received 152.5 billion Japanese Yen (US$1.54 billion) worth of fund in the last Japanese fiscal year (April 2017 to March 2018) and became the second largest ODA recipient in Asia.
The loan was 223 per cent higher than JPY 47.2 billion ODA, disbursed in the previous fiscal year (FY) 2016 which ended in March 2017.
Presently, the government of Bangladesh is implementing 33 development projects with financial support from JICA.