Japan has confirmed its engagement in six large public private partnership (PPP) projects in Bangladesh.
The confirmation was made at the second platform meeting held in Tokyo on June 07.
Leading Japanese private companies will work on the projects under Japan-Bangladesh G2G PPP Programme.
The third meeting due for early next year in Dhaka will finalise the signing of contracts, specific timeline for the projects and their implementation.
The projects are Chittagong-Cox's Bazar Expressway, Metro Line 2, Dhaka Outer Circular Road, Kamalapur Multimodal Hub Development, Biman Bandar Multimodal Hub Development and Dhirasram ICD.
The PPP Authority of the Prime Minister's Office signed a memorandum of cooperation with Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) on June 15, 2017.
It was aimed at developing and upgrading domestic public infrastructure assets under a modality named 'Policy for Implementing PPP Projects' through Government to Government (G2G) Partnership-2017.
Under the memorandum, both the governments have identified and overseen potential projects to be developed by Japanese funds.
The first meeting was held in Dhaka on December 06, 2017.
The second meeting was represented by Mr Koichi Yoshida, MLIT vice-minister, and Mr Nobuyuki Aoki, deputy minister, along with senior officials.
Syed Afsor H Uddin, CEO of the PPP Authority, led the Bangladesh delegation.
The team included senior officials from PPP Authority, Ministry of Railways, Roads and Highways Department, Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority and Dhaka Mass Transit Company Ltd.
Representatives from more than 20 Japanese companies with interest in developing and investing in these projects were also present at the meeting.
The June 07 meeting recommended forming a sub-working group and agreed on a broad action plan and timeline for each project.
According to a press release issued by the PPP Authority, Mr Yoshida said Japan wants to ensure that Bangladeshi people benefit from these PPP projects.
"The Japanese government will provide full support to the project implementation and G2G at large… We're very happy that this principle is appreciated by the Bangladesh government."
Mr Uddin of PPP Authority highlighted the stronger, closer and long-standing ties between Tokyo and Dhaka.
He said the G2G programme has created a new dimension of investment cooperation and partnership between the countries.
"At a recent PPP Authority meeting chaired by the prime minister, we highlighted the positive G2G developments with Japan," Mr Uddin mentioned.
"The board expressed their delight at the progress and directed us to provide full support to make this G2G partnership with Japan a success."
