China-Bangladesh to build Dhaka’s mega new town Purbachal

FT ONLINE

A Chinese company will play a leading role in building Bangladesh's first smart city and the biggest planned township on the outskirts of capital Dhaka including a mega water project which upon completion will divert water from the Meghna river to the settlement.

The flagship project comes in the backdrop of Beijing pumping in billions of dollars in building the populous country's ports, power stations and roads, and a recent, violent clash between Chinese and local workers at a China-funded power station.

The 6,150-acre town in the northeastern suburbs of Dhaka is being developed as the first smart city in Bangladesh, the official news agency, Xinhua reported.

Purbachal is "…the biggest planned township in Bangladesh, with many mega infrastructures including an international exhibition center under construction by another Chinese firm".

"A Chinese and Bangladeshi joint venture has signed a deal with the Bangladeshi government to implement a mega water project in Dhaka's Purbachal new township under the country's Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative," official news agency, Xinhua, said in a report.

The report added that the Chinese United Water Corporation won the deal jointly with leading local company Delcot Water Limited to implement the project "Development of Water Distribution and Supply Facilities at Purbachal New Town through Public-Private Partnership", which is the first PPP project in the water sector in Bangladesh

China is already implementing $10 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Zhang Zuo had said earlier.

The major projects are the Chinese Economic and Industrial Zone, the Payra Power Plant, the 8th China Bangladesh Friendship Bridge, and the International Exhibition Center.

Bangladesh's power generation capacity, in fact, is all set to reach 23,222 megawatts (MW) by the end of this year as a huge electricity plant being built in collaboration with Chinese firms nears completion.

Officials said that Payra coal-fired power plant would inject 660 MW electricity to the national grid from December 31 in the first phase, as the boiler of the first unit was lit up successfully recently.

Earlier this year, Bangladesh set up a $400 million joint venture with a Chinese company to build renewable energy projects to provide a total of 500 megawatts of power by 2023.

Reports say China is also helping Bangladesh built a submarine base off the coast of Cox's Bazar.