BIG-B Needs Clean Hands

With a completed first phase already in place and a proven Japanese partnership behind it, the priority now is transparency, credibility and a negotiating stance that puts national interest first. The Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt (BIG-B) is not a new idea. It is the continuation of a long-term vision that began under a previous government and has already moved from blueprint to concrete. Two 600-megawatt coal-fired units at Matarbari, a proposed deep-sea port and the Moheshkhali-Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure Development Initiative (MIDI) together form an industrial and logistics framework valued at roughly US$14 billion – a project intended to connect Bangladesh to international markets.
Crucially, BIG-B was placed in Japanese hands as a deliberate act of strategic balance among the major powers, keeping Bangladesh’s foreign policy independent rather than tied to any single bloc. That original logic still holds. The question now is not whether the project should continue, but how Bangladesh can create the environment needed to deliver it.
Separately, the recent summit in Tokyo saw Japanese private companies commit more than US$6 billion to a range of other projects and businesses in Bangladesh. That commitment reflects continued confidence in the country as an investment destination. But it is distinct from BIG-B itself, and it is important that the two are not conflated. Turning private-sector pledges into actual investment depends on conditions Bangladesh itself must create, and the gap between pledge and execution is where most large undertakings stall.
Regional connectivity can genuinely benefit every participant through trade, investment and industrialisation, and Bangladesh has no reason to oppose integration in principle. It could emerge as a major regional hub. But enthusiasm must not outrun a sober assessment of the economic, logistical, administrative and national security implications. The details that will decide everything deserve careful examination: cargo volume and tonnage, permissible vehicle dimensions and weight, road and bridge load capacities, customs inspection and clearance, security surveillance, border management, maintenance expenditure, operational responsibilities and jurisdiction. Each of these carries consequences that outlast any single government.
No amount of foreign capital can build a project that poor governance will quietly dismantle. Bangladesh has long ranked among the more corruption-prone countries in the world, and repeated international indices have placed it near the bottom of global tables. For a mega-project of BIG-B’s scale, this is not an abstract concern but a direct threat to its survival because every stage of such a project is exposed to graft: land acquisition, tendering, contracting, procurement, customs clearance and construction supervision. Where oversight is weak, costs inflate, timelines slip and quality suffers. Where oversight is absent, projects become vehicles for private enrichment rather than public benefit. Curbing corruption is therefore not a moral footnote to development; it is a precondition for it. Independent auditing, open contracting, published procurement records, competitive tendering and genuine accountability for those who divert public money are not bureaucratic luxuries. They are the mechanisms that convert pledges into infrastructure. If Bangladesh wants the confidence of its partners, it must earn it with clean hands.
Besides, investment does not flow into disorder. It requires predictable security, functioning institutions and a reasonable expectation that contracts property and personnel will be protected. Bangladesh’s law and order situation is now widely regarded as being at its lowest ebb in years, and this weakness is felt most acutely in exactly the areas where major projects are planned. Construction sites, ports and industrial zones require reliable security. Supply chains require safe roads and stable borders. Foreign engineers, managers and investors require the assurance that they and their families can work in the country without fear. So, restoring law and order is not a matter of occasional crackdowns. It requires professional, accountable and politically neutral law enforcement, a functioning judiciary and consistent enforcement of the rules regardless of who is involved. Without this foundation, even the best-designed connectivity framework will struggle to attract the sustained investment it needs. A conducive environment is essential if investment, whether in BIG-B or in the wider private-sector commitments, is to materialise. Transparency in procurement, contracting and land acquisition builds the confidence investors require. Predictable policy, clear timelines and consistent regulatory treatment reduce perceived risk, while strong governance and anti-corruption safeguards protect both the project and the partnership. Bangladesh’s credibility as a reliable partner is itself a strategic asset.
Japan has been a dependable development partner for decades, and Bangladesh should have no quarrel with its engagement. The partnership has deep roots: KAFCO, the fertiliser factory established in Chattogram during the late Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s tenure from 1991 to 1996, one of Japan’s largest and most enduring investments in Bangladesh. The recent Tokyo summit elevated BIG-B into “BIG-B for Shared Prosperity”, widening cooperation to connectivity, disaster preparedness, geopolitical risk management and regional stability. Yet national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security must take precedence over every other consideration.
BIG-B sits at the intersection of geography, capital and governance, and the third of those will ultimately decide its fate. Bangladesh cannot control where it lies on the map, and it cannot dictate the pace at which foreign capital moves. What it can control is the quality of its own institutions, and that is precisely where the project’s future will be won or lost.
The Bay of Bengal is not simply water on a map. It is a strategic inheritance, and the infrastructure built upon it will shape Bangladesh’s economy for generations. A project of this scale is a rare opportunity, and rare opportunities are squandered most often not by rivals but by disorder at home. If Bangladesh wants the world to invest in its future, it must first show that it can govern it. Clean procurement, functioning courts, secure borders and honest administration are not conditions imposed from outside. They are the terms Bangladesh owes itself. Meet them, and BIG-B becomes the foundation of a prosperous century.
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The writer is an Editor and Publisher of The Security World