Deep seaport at Matarbari will bring radical change to economy, says PM's principal secretary

The completion of the deep seaport and other ongoing development projects at Matarbari in Maheshkhali will bring radical change to the country's economy, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister ABM Abdus Sattar has said.

He made the remarks on Sunday morning (8 November) while inspecting various development projects and installations under the Maheshkhali Integrated Development Authority (MIDA) at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar's Maheshkhali.

During the visit, he toured the coal-based power plant, the deep seaport, the land-based LNG terminal, the LPG terminal and LPG storage, the third floating LNG terminal, the site for MIDA's office building and the area earmarked for rehabilitation.

Sattar said those affected by the ongoing development projects at Matarbari in Maheshkhali would be rehabilitated, and eligible people among them would be given jobs and other facilities.

He said more development projects would be implemented at Matarbari under the present government, and once the deep seaport is complete, the country's economy will see radical change. The government is moving the projects forward quickly to that end, he said.

The principal secretary said the important projects had not gained the expected pace because of the previous government's submissive foreign policy, but the present government is working to complete them in the shortest possible time.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Bijon Kanti Sarkar, local MP Alamgir Mohammad Mahfuz Ullah Farid, MIDA member Mohammad Sarowar Alam and senior officials of the projects concerned were present at the time.

MIDA said there is a plan to develop about 32,000 acres across four unions of Maheshkhali as four strategic economic hubs — a deep seaport and logistics hub, a power and energy hub, an industrial production hub, and a fisheries processing and marketing hub.

The authority also said construction of the turning basin and terminal at the Matarbari deep seaport is under way.

Once these development projects are implemented, about 150 million US dollars will be added to Bangladesh's economy, and huge employment will be created, MIDA said.

MIDA also said the projects are expected to bring about 5 billion US dollars in foreign investment, along with total investment equivalent to 65 billion US dollars.

According to MIDA, once the plan for the four strategic hubs is implemented, port, energy, industry and fisheries work will go on together across about 32,000 acres of Maheshkhali.