South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-Keun has said his country will continue to stand by Bangladesh in its journey toward infrastructure powerhouse with state-of-the-art technology and ample experience in infrastructure development.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the Korea-Bangladesh Infrastructure Cooperation Center (KBICC) in the capital on Monday.
The South Korean envoy said the opening of KBICC indicates in which direction Korea-Bangladesh relations are moving forward.
“It also demonstrates Korea’s strong commitment to infrastructure development of one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” he said.
The ambassador said it signifies huge potential in this area between the two nations.
With the opening of KBICC, it is expected that Public Private Partnership (PPP) collaboration between the two countries will further be reinforced as a field-based approach and smoother communication between relevant authorities as well as private sectors are enabled.
KBICC is a branch office of The Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND), Korean government’s agency dedicated to promoting and enhancing infrastructure development cooperation with partner countries.
KIND’s main counterpart in Bangladesh is Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) as it promotes Korean engineering and construction companies’ participation in Bangladesh infrastructure projects through the PPP scheme.
Lee Kang-hoon, CEO of KIND, Muhammad Ibrahim, CEO of PPPA, and Mostafa Kamal, president of Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KBCCI) also joined the opening ceremony.
“Policy for Implementing PPP Projects through G2G Partnership” issued by PPPA in 2017 laid the foundation for PPP collaboration between KIND and PPPA as the Bangladesh government aims at developing and upgrading public infrastructures with the foreign private investors through G2G framework with partner countries.
Since the MoU was signed between KIND and PPPA of Bangladesh in April 2019, the two authorities have held four rounds of annual Korea-Bangladesh Joint PPP Platform Meeting to list G2G-based cooperative infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.
As of now, five infrastructure projects are in the pipeline under G2G framework between the two countries: Meghna Bridge, Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, Dhaka Circular Railway, Matabari-Madunaghat 400kV Transmission Line, and Purbachal New Town Electrical Distribution Line, according to South Korean Embassy in Dhaka.
