Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is set to inaugurate 20 development projects during her visit to Cox’s Bazar on Saturday.
She will inaugurate the iconic Cox’s Bazar Railway Station at 10am, address a Sudhi rally, inspect the railway line up to Ramu by train, and address a public rally at Matarbari in Maheshkhali going by helicopter.
Among these projects, Tk18,034 crore has been spent on the Dohazari-Cox's Bazar railway project, Tk17,777 crore on the Matarbari sea port channel and Tk53,500 crore on other development projects.
Deputy Commissioner of Cox's Bazar Muhammad Shaheen Imran said: “The prime minister will inaugurate 14 projects, not including the railway line. It includes the Matarbari 1,200MW coal-based thermal power plant built under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, connected to the national grid in Kutubdia through submarine cables.”
Four projects of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives and the Ministry of Education respectively, one project of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment and two open-roof buses of district administration are also included in the list.
The Matarbari Power Plant is one of the mega projects of the government in Cox's Bazar. It is one of the prime minister's priority projects, built at a cost of Tk51,854 crore from Japanese financial assistance.
A loan agreement on the project was signed between the Government of Bangladesh and Jica on June 16, 2014.
Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCL), a subsidiary of state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), set up the 1,200MW power plant, having two units, on 1,608 acres of land in Matarbari and Dhalghata unions of Maheshkhali upazila of Cox's Bazar district.
Also read - Dhaka-Cox's Bazar train travel to cost as low as Tk188
Jica has been financing the project under which a deep-sea port is also being developed to facilitate coal unloading from ships.
The first unit of the 1,200 megawatt coal-fired power plant began trial production on July 29 at noon. It began production of 12 megawatts in early October after pilot production operations of six megawatts.
Matarbari Power Project Supervising Engineer Manwar Hossain Majumder said that the electricity produced is being supplied to the national grid. CPGCL is implementing the power plant project.
In the 52 years of independence, Island upazila Kutubdia was first connected to the national electricity grid on a trial basis on April 13. On April 12, some 1,500 customers of the island started getting electricity connection on a trial basis.
Director of the project and supervising engineer of Bangladesh Power Development Board Md Farooq Ahmed said that in 1980, the island had an electricity supply system for a few hours in the evening through generators. Those 1500 customers were initially connected to the national grid in April. Electricity connection is being given to 20,000 customers who have applied.
In 2020, the government took a project to bring 100% of the people under the electricity facility.
The tenure of the project “100% Reliable and Sustainable Electrification of Hatia, Nijhum and Kutubdia Islands project” was fixed till June 2024 at a cost of Tk400 crore
However, electricity from the national grid reached the island ahead of schedule.
Under the Cox's Bazar Airport Development Project, the “Cox's Bazar-Khurushkul” link bridge is being constructed on the Bankkhali River adjacent to Kasturaghat.
According to the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), the work on the project began in 2019. The official work of the bridge started on September 1, 2019. The construction of the bridge was supposed to be completed by August 21, 2021, but it took till October 2023 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and various complications.
Built at a cost of Tk259 crore, the 596-metre-long bridge has three 65-metre deep spans and 10 spans of 50 metres.
Prime minister will also inaugurate the Canal Lining Approach Road and Bridge at Cox's Bazar Sadar at a cost of Tk262 crore by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism.
Foundation stone will be laid for Tk67 crore Teknaf Multipurpose Disaster Resilient Shelter cum Isolation Centre, construction of 184m Arch RCC Girder Bridge at Nandakhali of Ramu and Cub Scouting Expansion Project and One Stop Service for Tourists to Primary Schools.
