Deal inked to appoint project consultant

Mahindra Engineering Consultant of India has been appointed as the Project Management Consultant (PMC) to establish the Government to Government (G2G) based Indian Economic Zone (EZ) in Chattogram’s Mirsharai.

An agreement in this regard was signed in the conference room of the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) in the capital on Monday.

Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Vikram K Doraiswami attended the event as the guest of honour while the programme was chaired by Executive Chairman of BEZA Sheikh Yusuf Harun.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between Bangladesh and India in June 2015 to establish an Indian economic zone. The estimated cost of the project is Tk 964.85 crore (including an Indian line of credit of $115 million).

The project is soon to be implemented to turn 900 acres of land under the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Shilpa Nagar’s Sub Zone-19 in Chattogram’s Mirsharai area into the Indian Economic Zone.

Mahindra Engineering Consultant of India will not only supervise and implement the project, but it will also work on the overall infrastructural development of the Indian EZ, which in turn will attract Indian businessmen to invest in Bangladesh, sources from the authorities concerned said.

Indian High Commissioner Vikram K Doraiswami said that India and Bangladesh have always shared remarkable bilateral trade relationships, and the establishment of the Indian EZ will further strengthen the economic ties between the two countries.

Implementation of this economic zone would accelerate the overall economic development of Southeast Asia, and the government of India is committed to the successful implementation of the project, the Indian envoy added.

Executive Chairman of BEZA Sheikh Yusuf Harun thanked the Indian embassy and Exim Bank of India for their contribution to the project and said Mahindra Engineering Consultant of India is capable of turning the area into an international standard economic zone.