Bangladesh Economic & Infrastructure Development - Updates & Discussions

[Bilal9]

This is being posted to view the top Indian thinktank perspective as far as geopolitical and maritime shipping future of South Asia.

However - the proposition to promote Andaman and Nicobar as a container transshipment hub for the region is puzzling. Coasters cannot reach Andaman as they ply along the continental shelves, within 50 or so miles of coasts. If Bangladesh can host 8500 TEU Panamax class mother vessels, it not only does not need Andaman, it also obviates the necessity to make port calls at Singapore and Colombo for transshipment. Mother vessels can go from Matarbari straight to Rotterdam or NYC.
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Bangladesh Boosts Bay of Bengal Blue Economy
01 Dec, 2020 · 5744


Vijay Sakhuja


Dr Vijay Sakhuja recommends investing in Industry 4.0 technologies to improve efficiency and add value to the Matarbari Port Development Project and Blue Economy in the Bay of Bengal


The stage is set for the development of the deep sea Matarbari Port Development Project (MPDP) in Bangladesh. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to provide US$ 25.4 million in financial assistance for the project and a Japanese consulting company, Nippon Koei Joint Venture, has been short listed to provide engineering-related services. The MPDP is expected to commence commercial operations in 2026, and would be capable of receiving 8,500 TEU post-Panamax vessels. Plans are also underway to enhance the port’s capacity to 2.8 million TEUs annually by adding more berths in the future. The MPDP emerges in the background of the “Big-B” concept, i.e. Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt, which was announced by Bangladesh and Japan in 2014. The port is being linked with a national highway and the MPDP includes construction of a connecting road.

There are at least two major spinoffs that would accrue to Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal region. First, it will reduce Bangladesh’s “dependence on the feeder vessels to ferry export-import goods from different foreign ports.” Nearly 90 per cent of Bangladesh’s trade is carried onboard ships that operate out of three ports—Chattogram, Mongla, and Payra. In 2017-18, Chattogram port accounted for 98.43 per cent of Bangladesh’s seaborne container trade and the balance was moved through Mongla port. Bangladesh relies on major container transshipment ports in Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia for its international containerized trade.

Second, the MPDP potentially provides the much-needed impetus to short sea shipping in the Bay of Bengal. According to Bangladesh’s State Minister for Shipping, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, the MPDP could develop as a “regional hub of connectivity.” Short sea shipping in the Bay of Bengal region has been high on the regional countries’ agenda and a start has already been made with the commencement of services between Port Blair in India’s Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia. Similarly, connectivity between Port Blair and Ranong (Thailand) can provide the much-needed impetus to short sea shipping in the Andaman Sea. In this context, it is useful to mention that the Indian government has announced INR 10,000 crore to build a container transshipment hub in the Nicobar Islands. It would involve “container transshipment terminal with the Free Trade Warehousing Zone in South Bay, Great Nicobar Island to provide Indian shippers an alternative to Colombo, Singapore and Port Klang (Malaysia) transshipment ports.”

While the MPDP’s contribution to the Bay of Bengal region’s Blue Economy potential is widely welcomed and acknowledged, it is also necessary to keep in mind the strategic dynamics that have been at play in the region, which remain deeply rooted in the security calculus of the regional countries. Given the dual nature of maritime infrastructure projects, these are often viewed as a security challenge, particularly when such projects involve China. A useful example is the Chinese Belt Road Initiative (BRI), under which several port development projects in the Indian Ocean have attracted strategic concerns. Doraleh (Djibouti), Gwadar (Pakistan) and Hambantota (Sri Lanka) have often been labelled as Chinese naval outposts that facilitate operations by the Chinese Navy. It is not surprising that Chinese assisted port projects in Bangladesh and Myanmar have been a matter of concern for India. Similarly, China’s Kra Canal project—which involves building a channel across south Thailand and can potentially reduce shipping distances by at least 1,000 km—has engendered security concerns in India.

While the tensions between economic opportunities and strategic concerns have been a feature of many of the Bay of Bengal maritime infrastructure plans and projects, a new opportunity has emerged for Bangladesh to lead the regional Blue Economy. The concept of Smart Ports is resonating across the maritime world and according to experts, only ‘smart ports’ will survive.

Industry 4.0 technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, big data, autonomous systems, etc are “up-scaling the efficiency of the maritime connectivity eco-system,” Among the major container ports with which Bangladesh conducts container trade, the Port of Singapore is highly digitalized, and Sri Lanka’s Port of Colombo has taken some initiatives in this direction. It will be useful to explore Industry 4.0 technologies that can be part of the MPDP operations.

In fact, these technologies have a major role to play in the development of Blue Economy and will be critical for marine spatial planning, including port development projects. Bangladesh has positioned Blue Economy as high priority and the political leadership has given it the top position among the drivers for national growth. The next step should be to invest in Industry 4.0 technologies that add to improving efficiency and bring added value to the MPDP and Blue Economy in the Bay of Bengal.


Dr. Vijay Sakhuja is a former director of the National Maritime Foundation, New Delhi.

 

[Bilal9]

Dhaka speech by Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, JICA President in 2014 inaugurating the Bangladesh-centered Big-B concept.


June 16, 2014
Speech: BIG-B toward Growth Beyond Borders
The University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Assalam U Alaikum, and good morning.

It is my great honor to be here at The University of Dhaka today to speak on behalf of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). As somebody who has spent most of his adult life as a university teacher, it is my great pleasure to have this opportunity to share my views with students and faculty members on the campus of this great university.

JICA began its operations in Bangladesh immediately after Japan formally recognized the newly independent nation in early 1972. In 1973, JICA started dispatching young and zealous Japanese volunteers to the country. In 1974, Japan committed its first ODA loan and established the JICA office in Dhaka. Many things, including natural disasters and political turmoil, have happened since then. But with the understanding and the support of the people of Bangladesh, we have expanded our activities dramatically. Last year, in fact, Bangladesh became the third largest partner country of Japanese official development assistance.

We at JICA are very proud of being able to work together with the people of Bangladesh in their efforts of development, which have resulted in great achievements. The percentage of the Bangladeshi people in absolute poverty decreased sharply from 59% in 1990 to 31.5% in 2010.

Average life expectancy has increased from 47 years in 1971 to 70 years today. Child mortality has declined markedly, and children's enrollment in primary school--just 50% forty years ago--is nearly universal today at 92%. Moreover, thanks to a four-fold increase in agricultural productivity, today 100% of Bangladesh's 150 million people are food secure. And now, Bangladesh appears to be entering into a new stage of development fueled by faster economic growth. To repeat, we are proud of being a partner of your great efforts.

Just yesterday, I visited Jamuna Bridge, or Bangabandhu Bridge as it's also called. And I was very much pleased that the bridges JICA financed, totaling 500, including Jamuna, have made a tremendous impact in connecting this nation divided by huge rivers. I also visited Tangail and attended a Union Development Coordination Committee as an observer. While there, I saw how the "Link Model", a system developed by JICA's technical cooperation project for Participatory Rural Development, is actually being implemented to improve accountability of government officials to the people. By encouraging people's participation in local governments, the Link Model is helping to achieve an effective and efficient use of resources. I was extremely gratified to see that this project is contributing to the improvement of governance of local communities in this country. In addition, I would like to mention the "Narsingdi Model" developed under JICA's Safe Motherhood Promotion Project. Although I did not have a chance to visit any implementation site of this project this time, this model is contributing to the improvement of maternal health by connecting local communities to governmental health services.

All in all, I am gratified that many of JICA's projects are contributing to the betterment of Bangladesh in many fields. But I believe that we need to do more together in the new stage of development in Bangladesh.

Prime Ministers Mr. Abe and Ms. Hasina acknowledged this new development landscape during their summit held in Tokyo on May 26th. They committed to further strengthening bilateral cooperation through the "Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership." Just as significantly, they proposed the "Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt" initiative (or BIG-B for short) as a means to guide partnership activities. Prime ministers Hasina and Abe are right on the target, because BIG-B, a grand design to promote industrial agglomeration along the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar belt area, has a great potential under the currently on-going tectonic changes of the global economy.

In the two years since becoming President of JICA, I have visited more than 30 countries all over the world. Through these experiences, I have observed dynamic changes in various parts of the world. And I have begun to see that these changes are part of the tectonic changes that are shifting the center of gravity of the world economy. In the last quarter of the 20th century, that center of gravity has moved from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The west coast of the United States, Japan, the Four Tigers of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, other Southeast Asian countries, and China became the major economic powers driving the global economy. But now in the first quarter of the 21st century, the world economy is shifting its center from the Pacific to a much broader area which I call the Indo-Pacific region. The Pacific continues to play an important role, but it is being connected more and more with the emerging economic powers along the Indian Ocean from Southeast Asia to South Asia, and to Africa. And, of course, the Bay of Bengal is centrally located within this tectonic change as it can function as a key junction between the two oceans.

Unfortunately, we are often bound by outdated geographic divisions. We still draw a dividing line at the Arakan Mountains to separate South Asia from Southeast Asia. I must confess that even JICA's regional divisions at headquarters are still delineated in this manner. Yet perhaps it is high time for the Bay of Bengal to be considered as a coherent strategic region within the broader framework of the Indo-Pacific. Bangladesh's renewed focus to "look east" would be timely and appropriate in this sense.

Bangladesh, in other words, is the linchpin of the Indo-Pacific region. It stands to gain a great deal from the shift in global economic dynamism toward the Indian Ocean. Indeed, the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt initiative (BIG-B) seeks to take full advantage of this trend. It foresees Bangladesh transcending its national borders to become a "node & hub" of the regional economy, so that she may reshape herself as a sparkling trading nation deeply incorporated into inter-regional and global value chain networks. This transformation is imperative if its national target of becoming a middle-income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041 is to be achieved.

BIG-B has three main pillars.

The first pillar is industry and trade. This pillar mainly consists of constructing a long-awaited deep sea port at the Matarbari Island. This will offer Bangladesh an important trade gateway to the rest of Asia and beyond.

The second pillar is energy. Matarbari Island can be developed into a massive supply base of primary energy (such as coal, LNG, and oil). The electricity produced from those sources can support a quantum leap in industry and trade, not only within the area covered by BIG-B but also all over Bangladesh. Recognizing the promise this holds, Power Division and the Bangladesh Power Development Board have already embarked on developing electricity infrastructure throughout the entire area to facilitate greater diversification of the country's energy mix.

Transportation is the third pillar of BIG-B. To enable greater industry, trade, and energy production, the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar transport artery needs to be strengthened and even extended to neighboring countries. More and better national highways and railways are an absolute must to accelerate the movement of goods and people that is essential for highly vibrant industrial agglomeration. We are encouraged by the fact that the Roads Division of the Ministry of Communication and the Ministry of Railways have shown a strong commitment to address this urgent need.

BIG-B is also an appropriate strategy for Bangladesh in the sense that the country is now poised to capitalize on three promising economic opportunities.

The first opportunity is the cost-competitiveness of Bangladeshi labor in the global marketplace, which is still strong. This was recently demonstrated in the RMG industry's production shift from China and Vietnam. The Rana Plaza incident was really tragic and JICA is now engaged in a technical and financial cooperation project to make the work place much safer. But even after the Rana Plaza incident in April 2013, several surveys have revealed that Bangladesh's attractiveness as a sourcing hot spot has been little changed.

The second opportunity is the current trend of regional integration. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is currently being negotiated among ten ASEAN countries, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, is one manifestation of this trend. Bangladesh could benefit more by joining in it.

The third opportunity is provided by the strategic location of Bangladesh, a country between the Indian Ocean and the Asian continent and a country between Southeast Asia and South Asia. Bangladesh can provide the gateway to the Bay of Bengal for the South Asian hinterlands comprising Bhutan, Nepal and India's seven North-Eastern states. These land-locked places are now considered to be a huge untapped market with more than 70 million people. This means that Bangladesh can be a "hub" of the Bengal regional economy. In addition, Bangladesh is also able to play a vital role as an inter-regional node between South-East Asia and South Asia.

However, if Bangladesh is to make the most of these opportunities, it must overcome several important socio-economic challenges.

First, Bangladesh must confront an energy resource deficit. Since the late 1960's, Bangladesh has largely depended on domestic natural gas for all energy used for power generation and industrial and household purposes. However, as we all know, the country's reserves of natural gas are now rapidly depleting. This means Bangladesh will very likely suffer from a severe deficit of this primary energy resource and will inevitably start importing coal and LNG. This might trigger huge trade deficits in the coming years, which could jeopardize the country's entire macroeconomic stability.

Second, Bangladesh will confront massive demand for employment. It is said that, in net terms, approximately two million working-age adults or three million young people will tap on the door of labor market every year over the next 20 years. The key challenge for the Government is to prevent these aspiring new entrants from becoming an onus on society and to obtain the full benefit of the country's demographic bonus. This requires expanding the size of the domestic market, easing the fiscal burden of social safety nets, and improving the quality of education at all levels so as to incubate entrepreneurs, leaders and skilled labors. To make the most of people's potential contribution to the country's development, fundamental infrastructure in the areas of energy/power, transport, water supply and sanitation, and communication is a prerequisite.

Third, the importance of governance here cannot be overstated. It is still a big challenge for the Government of Bangladesh to provide sound and credible governance to its citizens and others, including international investors. It should build an enabling environment for realizing dynamic and inclusive development with consistent policy planning and execution.

Last but not least, adaptation to upcoming changes related to the international trade regime is the third major challenge with which Bangladesh will soon have to grapple. Bangladesh is expected to graduate from least developed countries status in the near future. Although this is an inevitable part of becoming a middle-income country and beyond, it will terminate a variety of preferential trade treatments which Bangladesh currently enjoys. This will expose the protected Ready Made Garment industry to severe global trade competition.

That said, I am confident Bangladesh can turn these challenges into opportunities if the Government takes serious actions, and through implementation of BIG-B.

Ladies and gentlemen, JICA is committed to bringing BIG-B to fruition. Already, the Government of Bangladesh and JICA have jointly identified the Matarbari area, an island of salt and shrimp located 60km south of Chittagong city, as the tipping point for carrying out BIG-B. This island and the surrounding area have all the potential to become completely transformed into an integrated industrial and trading hub, as well as a central energy base. That is the reason why Japan decided to extend support to a national flagship project named the "Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-Fired Power Project." The governments of Bangladesh and Japan agreed to this Project at the highest level during Honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Japan last month. And I am delighted to announce that the loan agreement for this project will be signed this very afternoon.

The Matarbari Coal-Fired Power Project has two key components, a deep sea port 18m in depth for importing coal and a coal-fired power plant with an electricity generation capacity of 1,200MW. That is equivalent to 15% of current electricity demand. The deep sea port will enable 80,000 ton class ships (panamax size) to directly enter the port for coal unloading. Its construction is expected to be completed in 2020.

The coal-fired power plant should start commercial operation in 2022, or perhaps even earlier. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art Ultra Super Critical technologies, the manufacturing and operation of which Japan leads the world. The USC technologies to be used in the Matarbari plant will ensure stellar thermal efficiency (45%) and drive down its NOx and SOx emissions to 10 times below the prevailing levels of these emissions in the USA and France, respectively.

I would like to add that the Matarbari Coal-Fired Power Project has been deliberately designed to accommodate growing electricity demand through further expansion. According to the Power System Master Plan prepared in 2010 with support from JICA, power demand in Bangladesh will surge to the level of 40,000MW in 2030. This is a four-fold increase from the current level. Thermal coal-based electricity generation is expected to satisfy 50% of this forecasted demand. A portion of the remainder will need to be met through greater amounts of LNG imports. Therefore, eventual expansion of the Matarbari plant will likely include construction of power plants adjacent to the planned units, construction of a coal center to service other coal-fired power plants, and even construction of a LNG terminal.

In addition, the Government of Bangladesh and JICA are currently undertaking discussions to conduct a comprehensive master plan of the area including Chittagong and Cox's Bazar. This will further materialize the shape of BIG-B.

Now at this juncture, in order to put the BIG-B in a developmental perspective, it seems useful to reflect on Japan's experiences. Some of you may have heard about Japan's Pacific Belt Policy, which substantially changed our country's own industrial landscape. The "Pacific Belt," extending 1200km from northern Tokyo to south-western Kyushu Island through Osaka, was identified as a core industrial area back in 1960, in an economic plan that aimed to double national income in 10 years. The Pacific Belt now boasts 10 major industrial zones and is home to more than 500,000 companies. At present, it produces 80% of Japan's national output and millions of jobs have been generated because of it. I believe the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt centered in the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar area can engender a similar impact on the Bangladeshi economy. Among the many industrial zones in Japan, the Kashima Deep Sea Port & Industrial Zone may furnish you with useful information in planning for comprehensive development of the Matarbari area. Kashima deep sea port is a 600m-wide and 19m-deep artificial dredging-type port that bears a close resemblance to Matarbari. 160 factories operate near this port in a huge 3660ha industrial zone that is home to more than 20,000 jobs and 30 billion USD in annual economic output.

I should add that another lesson you can draw from 1960's Japan is the importance of minimizing negative impacts of industrial development on the natural environment at the beginning stages, rather than having to restore nature after it has deteriorated.

JICA's Eastern Seaboard Development Program in Thailand is a model of how Japan's experience and a pro-growth development strategy can bear fruit elsewhere. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, JICA supported efforts by the Thai government to pursue industrialization through the promotion of industrial parks and networks of ports, highways and railways with ODA loans and technical cooperation. Now the country has become a big manufacturing hub in the global supply chain. For example, in the automobile sector, Thailand's auto production reached 2 million units per annum in 2012, led by a cluster of major makers with 640 parts suppliers and 1,700 auto-parts subcontractors,. The Eastern Seaboard itself has grown into a large industrial and export base with 14 industrial complexes, 1,300 factories and 360,000 workers. It is now the country's second largest economic area next to Bangkok.

However, the impressive growth of the automobile industry in Thailand was not due to enhanced infrastructure alone. Another critical piece was the gradual improvement of factor productivity --such as skilled labor and effective and efficient administrative institutions. The lesson we can draw from this is that the prospect of infrastructure development, coupled with the capacity and institutional development, attracted domestic and foreign direct investment to Thailand. That, in turn, paved a way for marvelous chain reactions of value addition to accumulate thereafter. JICA is proud to have taken part in this undertaking and working with the Thai authorities to help them realize their vision.

I foresee that, as the eastern outpost of BIG-B, Matarbari, will become a comparable engine of growth for Bangladesh in the decades to come. Japan's own experience of modernization and development, in terms of both its own history and external support, validates this view.

The Japan-Bangladesh bilateral relationship now assumes a new level of importance with the shift in global economic power from the Pacific to the Indo-Pacific region. As a result, the overarching framework of JICA's cooperation for Bangladesh needs to be transformed, too. BIG-B is the first-ever grand design of economic development that adequately addresses the ability of Bangladesh to tap into and connect global markets and value chains. This is why BIG-B will now serve as operational guidance for JICA's projects and plans to accelerate economic growth in Bangladesh.

Rabindranath Tagore said: "You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water". Indeed, implementing BIG-B will require a significant level of commitment. It will pose a series of challenges, but it also presents an unprecedented opportunity for change. Dynamic growth comes about only insofar as a real effort is made to attain it. There is much sea for Bangladesh to sail across, but JICA will be always with you. Let us set out on a new voyage for a brighter future.

Onek Dhonnobad, thank you very much.

 

[Bilal9]

More details about Japan's BIG-B initiative (apologies to the real BIG-B Amitabh Bacchan-Ji).

Japanese have miscalculated the interchange of Industrial growth between surrounding countries though. Matarbari IMHO will function mainly as a power generation hub and shipping hub benefitting Bangladesh only for value addition and transport. Industrial raw materials might come from Indian states surrounding Bangladesh.
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The Initiative of BIG-B (The Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt)
–Toward Growth beyond Borders–
The year of 2014 is surely to be remembered by the people of Bangladesh and Japan as an epoch making year to step into a new dimension of the bilateral relationship with a clear vision of economic cooperation.

During their summit talk in Tokyo in May 2014, H.E. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan and H.E. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh agreed to further strengthen bilateral cooperation through the "Japan-Bangladesh Comprehensive Partnership." At this occasion, Prime Minister Abe announced to provide 600 billion Yen (approximately US$6 billion), mainly in ODA loans, in 4 to 5 years.

Following the first summit, Prime Minister Abe visited Bangladesh in September 2014, and the two Prime Ministers welcomed that the two countries shared a view on the direction of economic cooperation to be pursued under the initiative of "the Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt," or BIG-B.

What is "BIG-B"?

Bangladesh is located with embracing the Bay of Bengal from the sea point of view, and in-between South Asia and South-East Asia from the land point. Under the current global economic power shift toward the Indo-Pacific Ocean region, this geographical advantage will provide a unique opportunity for the country to play a node and hub role in regional as well as inter-regional matters. This also suggests the Bangladesh's renewed focus on "Look East" policy to exploit the vibrant economic growth from Pacific to Indian Ocean.

The BIG-B initiative is to accelerate industrial agglomeration along the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox's Bazar belt area and beyond, encompassing developing economic infrastructure, improving investment environment and fostering connectivity. The two Prime Ministers also expected the initiative, with maximum use of Japan's advanced technologies and socioeconomic development experiences, to yield mutual benefits and prosperity to both countries.

BIG-B foresees Bangladesh transcending its national borders to become a heart of the regional economy and providing a gateway for both South Asia and South-East Asia to step into a closer inter-regional relation, so that she may reshape herself as a sparkling trading nation deeply incorporated into inter-regional and global value chains.

BIG-B is not incompatible with other existing vital frameworks for the regional cooperation. Rather, it aims to supplement and reinforce them for the maximization of the benefit for Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has remarkably achieved the average of 6% growth in the last decade amid the downturn of the global economy, and is now ready to leap onto the higher growth path to become a middle income country by 2021. At this critical juncture, upon the Government of Japan's extraordinary commitment for the bilateral relationship, JICA will keep on providing the full-fledged sincere cooperation for Bangladesh in strategic project formulation and smooth implementation to realize the BIG-B initiative for the inclusive and dynamic development of the country for＿ decades to come.

For more details on BIG-B, please have a look at the speech of Dr. Akihiko Tanaka, JICA President, titled "BIG-B toward Growth beyond Borders" at the University of Dhaka on June 16, 2014.

 

[Bilal9]

Mirsarai Bangabandhu Export Zone status update.

 

[Bilal9]

Dhaka Airport Third Terminal Article​

If you decorate the world of imagination like this, you have come down from any part of the country by rail to kamalapur railway station. from there, kaola via khilkhet on the subway. he will get down there and go to the third terminal of hazrat shahjalal international airport. after all the airport formalities, he boarded the plane. then to his destination. don’t fall into any traffic jams at this time. from kamalapur to the airport, you will not see the sunlight.

no, it’s not a dream, it’s going to take shape. the capital’s kaola railway station is being built only to reach the third terminal of hazrat shahjalal international airport. this is how the airport is being decorated to make it easier for those who travel abroad from home or from abroad.

you can use another route to go to the third terminal of hazrat shahjalal international airport. you can go directly to the new terminal built using a 24 km long elevated expressway from Qutubkhali to airport on Dhaka-Chittagong highway. separate arrangements are being put in place to land from the elevated expressway to the terminal in the airport area. you can also leave the airport using the same route. This is how the third terminal at shahjalal airport is being built by Rohani Baharin, an official of a singapore-based company.

Workers are working on the third terminal building of Hazrat Shahjalal international airport.

Singapore's changi airport was also designed by Rohani Baharin. it is said that the third terminal of Shahjalal airport is being constructed on the lines of Changi airport. Rohani Baharin’s design is being implemented by two japanese companies, Mitsubishi and Fujita, and Samsung construction and trading corporation of South Korea.

The country’s main airport currently has two terminals. these two terminals comprise over 100,000 square meters of space. the third terminal that is taking place is more than double the current two terminals. an area of 230,000 square meters. the construction of the third terminal is costing a little over Tk. 21,000 crore.
not only is one terminal being constructed afresh at Hazrat Shahjalal airport. there are four more works in parallel with this. two high speed taxiways are being constructed along with the terminal. the reason for the construction of these two taxiways is that due to the long time the aircraft on the runway, another aircraft cannot land from the top. in addition, two buildings are being constructed for import and export of goods. there will also be a three storey building for car parking. all in all, a huge work is going on at Hazrat Shahjalal airport.

car parking is currently a major problem at this airport. the new terminal will have 1,300 car parking facilities at a time. project officials say Hazrat Shahjalal airport now has the capacity to serve 8 million passengers annually. the third terminal will be upgraded to handle 20 million passengers once it is completed. this means an additional 12 million passengers will be covered under the new service.

officials associated with the project say Metrorail 1 is from Kamalapur to Rajarbagh-malibagh-rampura, yamuna future park, khilkhet to the airport. it’s all subway. work is now underway to construct a 200 metre tunnel from kaola station. at the same time, construction of tunnels to land from the elevated expressway to the terminal is also underway. but if the new terminal is inaugurated before the subway, passengers will come directly to the terminal.

workers working on the third terminal building of Hazrat Shahjalal international airport.

What’s planned in the new terminal
There would be 115 check-in counters to prevent passengers from standing in long queues as soon as they enter the terminal. Immigration only after completing the check-in phase. 12 boarding bridges are being built in the third terminal, which will be connected to the aircraft. 64 exit immigration counters are being set up. at the same time, there will be 64 immigration counters. 16 conveyor belts will be built to pull luggage or bags.

Project officials said the third terminal will have a total of 37 additional apron parking. that means 37 aircraft can be parked at a time in the new 3rd terminal. Now there are 29 apron park facilities. Hazrat Shahjalal airport now has four taxiways. two more taxiways are being added afresh. two new taxiways are being constructed to prevent aircraft from staying on the runway for long.

workers working on the third terminal building of Hazrat Shahjalal international airport.

On September 9, large activity was being carried out around the country’s main airport. the boundary wall, the guardroom are being constructed. construction of service roads is also in progress. Maksudul Islam, project director of the new terminal, said at least 5,000 people are working on the entire project. he spoke to labourer shah alam in the project area. shah alam, a resident of noakhali, joined the project three months ago. talking to several other workers, it is learnt that housing has also been provided for the workers in the project area.

The import cargo terminal is being built with an area of 27,000 square meters. piling work is over. Now the ground work is going on. Enamul Hasan, an engineer in charge of the import cargo terminal, said that 389 pillars have been installed. transportation of goods will be all in automated manner.

Project director Maksudul Islam said the third terminal is being constructed so that a passenger from abroad gets down at Hazrat Shahjalal international airport to get a good idea of Bangladesh. the terminal will have all kinds of facilities.

Auto-Translated from Bengali.

 

[Bilal9]

Hatil - furniture manufacturers and exporters

 

[PoondolotoPandalum]

Hatil - furniture manufacturers and exporters

"Kaizan principle babohar kore"

Would love to see how Kaizen is implemented in Bangladesh xD


From my experience in the UK industry, many companies claim to abide by Kaizen principles, without really knowing what it is. It's kinda sad, a common buzzword is thrown about to look competent and relevant, but rarely executed. It's all about looking for the very last scrap of detail, for perpetual improvement. The Japanese, being Japanese, is rather good at this. It's one of the reasons why Japanese automobiles are so damn reliable.

But I'm glad these buzzwords are being used in Bangladesh, alongside "Industry 4.0", "sustainable manufacturing", "parametric design" etc. Bangladesh, being new to industrializing, can incorporate sustainability and "smart" principles from the ground up. And we see this in many newly emerging industries. It's much harder for a large and big organization to shoe-horn these principles in their current modus Operandi.

These days, if you want to survive as a company making things, you need to do at least one thing exceptionally well. Otherwise, your future is questionable at best. We need to find our niche. Bangladesh should strive for sustainable manufacturing, minimizing energy consumption while maximizing productivity. High investment cost, but it would make Bangladesh more favorable of a place to invest than say Vietnam, as companies are trying tor reduce their carbon footprint

 

[Bilal9]

"Kaizan principle babohar kore"

Would love to see how Kaizen is implemented in Bangladesh xD


From my experience in the UK industry, many companies claim to abide by Kaizen principles, without really knowing what it is. It's kinda sad, a common buzzword is thrown about to look competent and relevant, but rarely executed. It's all about looking for the very last scrap of detail, for perpetual improvement. The Japanese, being Japanese, is rather good at this. It's one of the reasons why Japanese automobiles are so damn reliable.

But I'm glad these buzzwords are being used in Bangladesh, alongside "Industry 4.0", "sustainable manufacturing", "parametric design" etc. Bangladesh, being new to industrializing, can incorporate sustainability and "smart" principles from the ground up. And we see this in many newly emerging industries. It's much harder for a large and big organization to shoe-horn these principles in their current modus Operandi.

These days, if you want to survive as a company making things, you need to do at least one thing exceptionally well. Otherwise, your future is questionable at best. We need to find our niche. Bangladesh should strive for sustainable manufacturing, minimizing energy consumption while maximizing productivity. High investment cost, but it would make Bangladesh more favorable of a place to invest than say Vietnam, as companies are trying tor reduce their carbon footprint

Well I can attest that I attended a JICA training back many years ago in Bangladesh on the fishbone diagram method of finding faults. It's also called the Ishikawa diagram. I am sure @bluesky bhai has used it in his line of work. There are at least a dozen Kanban or Kaizen trainings going on in Dhaka at any month by several training groups and companies do pay to have their employees attend these things. Maybe just theoretical now, but someday someone will take it seriously.

Bangladesh manufacturers were dragged into Sustainable manufacturing not by their own willingness but EU buyer requirements. They simply will not place orders if you cannot show some semblance of sustainable practices. However some factories (especially those built in the last five years) did build in LEED type eco-sensitive principles for the buildings. And they do recycle their water (dyeing and finishing plants) as well as clean up effluents (using ETP units) before discharging into the rivers, though some is still going on.

7 of the top 10 LEED® certified factories in Bangladesh — Accord

By Zulker Naeen Bangladesh is grossing a silent revolution by setting up continuous eco-friendly factories. About 7 #green #infrastructures for factories among highest 10 are in now Bangladesh for scoring the highest standard. And each is #garment industries. U.S. Green Bu

www.accordsourcing.co.uk

 

[bluesky]

Well I can attest that I attended a JICA training back many years ago in Bangladesh on the fishbone diagram method of finding faults. It's also called the Ishikawa diagram. I am sure @bluesky bhai has used it in his line of work. There are at least a dozen Kanban or Kaizen trainings going on in Dhaka at any month by several training groups and companies do pay to have their employees attend these things. Maybe just theoretical now, but someday someone will take it seriously.

I forgot if I have learned immediately after coming to Japan about this fishbone method of finding faults that I forgot, but I do remember the terms Kanban or Kaizen.

But, I went extensively through the CPD (Critical Path Method), a network diagram of work activities in design as well as construction. CPD is very important to create an efficient Construction Schedule. All work activities are independent, yet interlinked.

A simple example: To lay a pipeline underground, the activity must be preceded by

- Excavation and level checking
- Laying RC blocks or bricks. It could also be a sand layer
- Laying the pipes
- Backfilling
- compaction
- Testing and restoration when needed

Note that all activities are independent above, yet are inter-related. However, unless sequences are maintained, it will cause confusion and delay to complete the job.

It is a very low-level simple example. However, you will note that our people dig more than a km, soil with rainwater rushes in, it is pumped out, piping materials then come but not the RC blocks or bricks and so on -------------------. I watched this irregular work approach many years ago, but things have not changed.

BY CPD, the company will dig only a 50m or 100m segments, RC blocks are stocked beforehand, when a 10m segment is dug with the correct level RC blocks are placed, pipes are laid over them whenever the correct length of excavation is ready.

It means, there are separate teams who conduct their separate activities one after another logically. In the morning at 5:00 am all works are completed for that 100m segment. No traffic impediments in the morning.

It may be 10 m, 50m, or more than that, the entire construction must be completed in the early morning. It is a simple example of CPD that is not being followed in BD. Japan follows it in any type of work.

So, you can see a bridge has been completed in BD but the approach/ connecting roads at the two ends have not even started. When it will start? Maybe next year because there is no budget allocation.

Am I wrong about Golden Bangladesh? I hope @UKBengali is not unhappy with me.

 

[Bilal9]

I forgot if I have learned immediately after coming to Japan about this fishbone method of finding faults that I forgot, but I do remember the terms Kanban or Kaizen.

But, I went extensively through the CPD (Critical Path Method), a network diagram of work activities in design as well as construction. CPD is very important to create an efficient Construction Schedule. All work activities are independent, yet interlinked.

A simple example: To lay a pipeline underground, the activity must be preceded by

- Excavation and level checking
- Laying RC blocks or bricks. It could also be a sand layer
- Laying the pipes
- Backfilling
- compaction
- Testing and restoration when needed

Note that all activities are independent above, yet are inter-related. However, unless sequences are maintained, it will cause confusion and delay to complete the job.

It is a very low-level simple example. However, you will note that our people dig more than a km, soil with rainwater rushes in, it is pumped out, piping materials then come but not the RC blocks or bricks and so on -------------------. I watched this irregular work approach many years ago, but things have not changed.

BY CPD the company will dig only a 50m or 100m segments, RC blocks are stocked beforehand, when a 10m segment is dug with the correct level RC blocks are placed, pipes are laid over them whenever the correct length of excavation is ready.

It means, there are separate teams who conduct their separate activities one after another logically. In the morning at 5:00 am all works are completed for that 100m segment. No traffic impediments in the morning.

It may be 10 m, 50m, or more than that, the entire construction must be completed in the early morning. It is a simple example of CPD that is not being followed in BD. Japan follows it in any type of work.

So, you can see a bridge has been completed in BD but the approach/ connecting roads at the two ends have not even started. When it will start? Maybe next year because there is no budget allocation.

Am I wrong about Golden Bangladesh? I hope @UKBengali is not unhappy with me.

Excellent example @bluesky bhai. Critical path is followed in most of the civil and mechanical construction projects in the US. In fact I studied a modicum of it during my Project Mgmt. training sometime ago. All previous work here is seen as dependencies for all consequent work. If you have Microsoft Project or other similar Project Management software - this is illustrated visibly in the diagram. In Bangladesh projects project software is used in LGED for resource constraint measurement. Some of the LGED folks I met knew their stuff, it is one of the better govt. depts. in Bangladesh.

You should study for and get the PMP certification and MS Project certification, unless you have them already. These could raise your salary a lot.

 

[Bilal9]

The Crackdown on unregistered smuggled/illegal mobile handsets has begun in Bangladesh as of July 01, 2021. As expected, local mobile handset makers like Walton have taken an active lead in this effort. Here are the instructions in Bengali for those who want to import their personal devices and register them. All software needed were supplied by local vendors.

অবৈধ ফোন ব্যবহার বন্ধ করতে পরীক্ষামূলকভাবে শুরু হয়েছে মোবাইল ফোনের বৈধতা যাচাই 'ন্যাশনাল ইকুইপমেন্ট আইডেন্টিটি রেজিস্টার' (#NEIR)-এর কার্যক্রম। তাই হ্যান্ডসেট ক্রয় করার সময় অবশ্যই ফোনের বৈধতা যাচাই করা জরুরি। অবৈধ মোবাইল ফোন না কিনে দেশের তৈরি সেরামানের বৈধ ফোন ব্যবহার করুন এবং দেশকে নিরাপদ রাখুন।


আপনারা যারা দেশের বাহির থেকে মোবাইল আনতে আগ্রহী এবং জানতে চেয়েছেন ১ তারিখের পর কিভাবে কি করবেন তাদের জন্য এই পোস্ট।

"ন্যাশনাল ইকুইপমেন্ট আইডেন্টিটি রেজিস্টার (এনইআইআর)

ন্যাশনাল ইকুইপমেন্ট আইডেন্টিটি রেজিস্টার (এনইআইআর) এর কার্যক্রম ০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে পরীক্ষামূলকভাবে শুরু হবে। এনইআইআর এ গ্রাহকের জাতীয় পরিচিতি নম্বর ও সিম নম্বর (এমএসআইএসডিএন) এর সাথে ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল ফোনের আইএমইআই সম্পৃক্ত করে নিবন্ধন করা হবে। গ্রাহক কর্তৃক বর্তমানে মোবাইল ফোন নেটওয়ার্কে ব্যবহৃত সকল হ্যান্ডসেট ৩০ জুন ২০২১ তারিখের মধ্যে স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে নিবন্ধিত হবে। ফলে ০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে সেটসমূহ বন্ধ হবে না। ০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে নতুন যে সকল মোবাইল ফোন নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত হবে তা প্রাথমিকভাবে নেটওয়ার্কে সচল করে এনইআইআর এর মাধ্যমে হ্যান্ডসেটের বৈধতা যাচাই করা হবে। হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হলে স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে এনইআইআর এ নিবন্ধিত হয়ে নেটওয়ার্কে সচল থাকবে। যে সকল হ্যান্ডসেট বৈধ হবে না সেগুলো সম্পর্কে গ্রাহককে এসএমএস এর মাধ্যমে অবহিত করে পরীক্ষাকালীন সময় তিন মাসের জন্য নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত রাখা হবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে সরকারের সিদ্ধান্ত অনুযায়ী পরবর্তী ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা হবে।

হ্যান্ডসেট ক্রয় বা বিক্রয়ের পূর্বে করণীয়

০১ জুলাই ২০২১ তারিখ হতে যে কোন মাধ্যম হতে (বিক্রয় কেন্দ্র, অনলাইন বিক্রয় কেন্দ্র, ই-কমার্স সাইট ইত্যাদি) মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট ক্রয়ের পূর্বে অবশ্যই হ্যান্ডসেটটির বৈধতা বর্ণিত পদ্ধতি অনুসরণ করে যাচাই করবেন এবং ক্রয়কৃত হ্যান্ডসেটের ক্রয় রশিদ সংরক্ষণ করবেন। মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হলে তা স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে এনইআইআর সিস্টেমে নিবন্ধিত হয়ে যাবে।

ধাপ-১: মোবাইল ফোনের মেসেজ অপশনে গিয়ে KYD<space>১৫ ডিজিটের IMEI নম্বরটি লিখুন। উদাহরণ স্বরূপঃ KYD 123456789012345।
ধাপ-২: IMEI নম্বরটি লিখার পর ১৬০০২ নম্বরে প্রেরণ করুন।
ধাপ-৩: ফিরতি মেসেজ এর মাধ্যমে মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেটের বৈধতা সম্পর্কে জানতে পারবেন।

বিদেশ থেকে ক্রয়কৃত বা উপহারপ্রাপ্ত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট নিবন্ধন প্রক্রিয়া:

বিদেশ থেকে ব্যক্তি পর্যায়ে বৈধভাবে ক্রয়কৃত অথবা উপহারপ্রাপ্ত হ্যান্ডসেটসহ সকল হ্যান্ডসেট স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে নেটওয়ার্কে সচল হবে। দশ দিনের মধ্যে অনলাইনে তথ্য/দলিল প্রদান করে নিবন্ধন করার জন্য এসএমএস প্রদান করা হবে। দশ দিনের মধ্যে নিবন্ধন সম্পন্ন করলে উক্ত হ্যান্ডসেট বৈধ হিসেবে বিবেচিত হবে। উক্ত সময়ের মধ্যে নিবন্ধন সম্পন্ন করা না হলে হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হিসেবে বিবেচিত হবে না এবং সেগুলো সম্পর্কে গ্রাহককে এসএমএস এর মাধ্যমে অবহিত করে পরীক্ষাকালীন সময়ের জন্য নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত রাখা হবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে সরকারের সিদ্ধান্ত অনুযায়ী পরবর্তী ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা হবে। হ্যান্ডসেট নিবন্ধন করার পদ্ধতি নিম্নরূপঃ

ধাপ-১: neir.btrc.gov.bd লিংকে ভিজিট করে আপনার ব্যক্তিগত একাউন্ট রেজিস্টার করুন।
ধাপ-২: পোর্টালের Special Registration সেকশনে গিয়ে মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট এর IMEI নম্বরটি দিন।
ধাপ-৩: প্রয়োজনীয় ডকুমেন্ট এর ছবি/স্ক্যান কপি (যেমনঃ পাসপোর্টের ভিসা/ইমিগ্রেশন তথ্যাদি, ক্রয় রশিদ ইত্যাদি) আপলোড করুন এবং Submit বাটন-টি প্রেস করুন।
ধাপ-৪: হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ হলে স্বয়ংক্রিয়ভাবে নিবন্ধিত হবে। হ্যান্ডসেটটি বৈধ না হলে এসএমএস এর মাধ্যমে গ্রাহককে অবহিত করে পরীক্ষাকালীন সময়ের জন্য নেটওয়ার্কে সংযুক্ত রাখা হবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে সরকারের সিদ্ধান্ত অনুযায়ী পরবর্তী ব্যবস্থা গ্রহণ করা হবে।

নোট: মোবাইল অপারেটরের নিকটস্থ কাস্টমার কেয়ার সেন্টারের সাহায্যেও বর্ণিত সেবা গ্রহণ করা যাবে।

বিঃদ্রঃ বিদ্যমান ব্যাগেজ রুলস অনুযায়ী একজন ব্যক্তি বিদেশ থেকে শুল্ক বিহীন সর্বোচ্চ দুইটি এবং শুল্ক প্রদান স্বাপেক্ষে আরও ছয়টি হ্যান্ডসেট সাথে আনতে পারবে।

নিবন্ধিত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট ডি-রেজিস্ট্রেশন করার প্রক্রিয়া

পরীক্ষামূলক সময়কালে তিন মাস ডি-রেজিস্ট্রেশন ছাড়াই হ্যান্ডসেট হস্তান্তর করা যাবে। উল্লেখ্য যে, একজন গ্রাহক নিজ নামে রেজিস্ট্রিকৃত যে কোন সিম দিয়ে যে কোন হ্যান্ডসেট ব্যবহার করতে পারবে। পরীক্ষামূলক সময় অতিবাহিত হলে ডি-রেজিস্ট্রেশন সম্পর্কে বিস্তারিত জানানো হবে।

ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট এর বর্তমান অবস্থা যাচাইয়ের প্রক্রিয়া

ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট এর বর্তমান অবস্থা নিম্নবর্ণিত পদ্ধতি অনুসরণ করে জানা যাবে।

ধাপ-১: মোবাইল হ্যান্ডসেট হতে *১৬১৬১# নম্বরে ডায়াল করুন।
ধাপ-২: স্ক্রিনে প্রদর্শিত অপশন হতে Status Check অপশন সিলেক্ট করুন।
ধাপ-৩: অটোমেটিক বক্স আসলে হ্যান্ডসেট এর ১৫ ডিজিটের IMEI নম্বরটি লিখে প্রেরণ করুন।
ধাপ-৪: হ্যাঁ/না অপশন সম্বলিত একটি অটোমেটিক বক্স আসলে হ্যাঁ Select করে নিশ্চিত করুন।
ধাপ-৫: ফিরতি মেসেজ এর মাধ্যমে ব্যবহৃত মোবাইল ফোনের/হ্যান্ডসেটের হালনাগাদ অবস্থা জানানো হবে।

নোট: neir.btrc.gov.bd লিংকের মাধ্যমে বিদ্যমান সিটিজেন পোর্টাল অথবা মোবাইল অপারেটরের নিকটস্থ কাস্টমার কেয়ার সেন্টারের সাহায্যে বর্ণিত সেবা গ্রহণ করা যাবে।

এনইআইআর সম্পর্কিত যে কোন বিষয়ে জানার ক্ষেত্রে করণীয়

এনইআইআর সম্পর্কিত কোন বিষয়ে জানার প্রয়োজন হলে বিটিআরসি’র হেল্পডেস্ক নম্বর ১০০ অথবা মোবাইল অপারেটরগণের কাস্টমার কেয়ার নম্বর ১২১ এ ডায়াল করে এবং অপারেটরগণের কাস্টমার কেয়ার সেন্টার হতে জানা যাবে।"

-BTRC
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https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=544074576873926

 

[F-6 enthusiast]

Guterres hails Bangladesh’s development
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha . New York | Published: 14:42, Sep 24,2021 | Updated: 00:05, Sep 25,2021

UNB photo
The United Nations secretary general António Guterres has highly appreciated the development of Bangladesh under the leadership of prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
He lauded the Bangladesh PM and her apt leadership to advance the country with overall development as he had bilateral talks with Sheikh Hasina at Lotte New York Palace in New York, US, on Thursday afternoon (NY time).

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen later briefed the media about the prime minister’s scheduled events on the day ahead of her UNGA address on Friday.

At the outset of the meeting with Sheikh Hasina, Guterres warmly welcomed her.
He said the United Nations gave prominence on the priorities of Bangladesh.
‘The priorities of Bangladesh are the priorities of the United Nations whether it is climate change or sustainable development goals,’ Guterres said.

During the talks, Sheikh Hasina urged the UN secretary general to engage more personnel of Bangladesh armed forces in the higher ranks of the UN peacekeeping mission.
Replying to a query about UN secretary general’s response to the PM’s call, the foreign minister said Guterres was seen positive to the call as he wanted to do more for Bangladesh.
In this context, he said the UN secretary general also mentioned that Bangladesh has earned reputation and has a success story in the UN peacekeeping mission.

Momen said, ‘The UN has acknowledged Bangladesh was a ‘role model’ as it was turning into ‘a vibrant economy’.
Guterres has also commended Bangladesh for its leadership in all UN achievements, the foreign minister said.
The prime minister also had meetings with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, Vietnam President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc and Maldivian president Ibrahim Mohammad Solih at the UN headquarters.
The Netherlands Queen Maxima, during a bilateral talk with Sheikh Hasina, said, ‘We are mulling over introducing insurance for checking the loss and damages caused by the natural calamities’.
Foreign secretary Masud Bin Momen, prime minister’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim and Bangladesh permanent representative to the UN Rabab Fatima were present.

Speaking about the meeting between prime minister Sheikh Hasina and Maldivian president Ibrahim Mohammad Solih, Momen said the two countries are working on commercial ship operation between Male and Chattogram.

During the meeting with Vietnam president Nguyễn Xuân Phúc , prime minister Sheikh Hasina requested him to exert pressure on the Myanmar authorities so that ‘they take back Rohingyas to their homeland’.

link: Guterres hails Bangladesh’s development (newagebd.net)

 

[Bilal9]

Within the next one year, Bangladesh' fuel oil import and supply system is undergoing major changes. So that thousands of crores of Takas will be saved every year. For this purpose, besides the CXB/Matarbari fuel oil unloading project, the construction of pipeline from Cox's Bazar to Dhaka by sea is also proceeding. As a result, not only is the long-standing conventional way of oil transport using pipelines is changing, but also the reality of huge reserves of fuel security is becoming apparent.

Maheshkhali, the only hilly island in the country isolated from water, is home to the country's largest oil unloading installation of single point mooring or SPM project. The fuel oil will come from a mother vessel anchored at Single Point Mooring, 9 km south-west of the sea boundary at Matarbari.

The fuel will be received from Mother Vessel in just 48 hours which used to take 11 days to arrive by lighterage ship. The project, which is being built across 90 acres of land at a cost of about Tk. 6,500 crore, will be able to store oil stocks in the country worth about two and a half months in three large refined oil and three large crude oil tanks.

These will be pumped from the storage tanks and sent via pipeline to the Eastern Refinery in Patenga. Therefore, the work of laying a total of 193 km of pipeline including at the bottom of the sea is also nearing completion. The government has a plan to bring the benefits of of this SPM project network all the way to the capital.

If the price of fuel oil suddenly rises in the international market, this modern project with huge storage capacity will be able to absorb pricing shocks it temporarily.

 

[Bilal9]

Payra Lebukhali Bridge days away from inauguration by PM...

 

[Bilal9]

The Army has completed roughly 45 KM of their planned 81 KM "Thanchi to Likri Road" to connect the four highest foothill peaks of Bangladesh (all the way to the Myanmar border, where Likri is), this is the highest height road in Bangladesh. The peaks connected are,

1. Saka Haphong (AKA "Mowdok Mual") - currently tallest peak in the country at 1,064 meters (3,451 feet)
2. Tazing Dong - 1056 meters (3,465 feet)
3. Keokra Dong - 967 meters (3172 feet), and
4. Deim peak

বান্দরবানের দুর্গম থানচির সুউচ্চ পাহাড়ের চূড়ার পাশাপাশি মেঘের ভেতর দিয়ে দীর্ঘ ৮১ কিলোমিটার রাস্তা তৈরি করে চমক সৃষ্টি করতে যাচ্ছে বাংলাদেশ সেনাবাহিনী। থানচি জিরো পয়েন্ট থেকে শুরু হওয়া এই সড়ক শেষ হবে মিয়ানমার সীমান্তবর্তী লিক্রিতে। ইতোমধ্যে ৪৫ কিলোমিটার সড়কের কাজ শেষ হয়েছে। আর এই সড়ক একই সুতোয় যুক্ত করতে যাচ্ছে সাকা হাফং-তাজিংডং-কেওক্রাওডং এবং ডিম পাহাড়কে।

View at Keokradong

View at Saka Haphong

Tiny Bandarban Town - could be made into a wonderful Hill Station - like Darjeeling or Shimla but at a smaller scale.

Nilachal, Bandarban (5 KM outside Bandarban) - there is a huge scope of eco-tourism possibility here, including cable cars and zip-lining like in the Genting Highlands.