The government will open Moheskhali-Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure Development Initiative (MIDI) cell at Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA), aiming to support country’s mega energy and power infrastructure projects on 6,804 acres of land in Cox’s Bazar.

The Prime Minister’s Office will discuss the structure of the cell and land acquisition process for the MIDI on October 15, 2019.

Comprehensive resettlement policy, land development plan and procurement of LNG/LPG will also be discussed at the meeting, official sources said.      

The government has already selected 19 projects to be implemented in the country’s largest-ever infrastructure project, an official said.

Of the projects, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) will implement about 12 projects while another seven projects will be implemented by the state-owned Coal Power Generation of Bangladesh Ltd (CPGCBL).

The government is planning to complete land development on 5,579 acres of area within 54 months, an official said, adding that common facilities, including port, coal stock, yard, ash, dyke, roads, greenery, pooling station and township, will be implemented within 134 months.

About 10 mega power plants will be implemented in different periods of time till 2034, officials confirmed. Besides, the CPGCBL will implement seven power plants, including 1200MW coal-fired plants under construction.

The government has already allocated Tk 574 crore for acquiring 5,579 acres of land at Moheskhali and it will require around Tk 83,200 crore more for 8320MW power generation.

The Prime Minister’s Office has already asked the Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) to acquire 931 acres of land from its own fund.

The rest 294 acres of land will be acquired through JICA finance for implementation of the deep seaport at Matarbari, according to sources.

At the seaport, the government plans to create facilities to load and unload 112,000 metric tonnes of coal to feed 12 mega coal-fired power plants.

Besides, the 1000mmcfd LNG supply facilities will be created at Matarbari through installation of land-based terminal, officials said.

The CPA conducts initial works to implement the deep seaport.

In future, the government plans to extend the Moheskhali deep seaport to Sonadia island and requested JICA to conduct the feasibility study in this regard, reliable sources said.