China is lending Bangladesh a record $40 billion and the loan agreements will be signed during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Dhaka later this month, officials have hinted.
“Loan agreements of a record amount will be signed,” State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan told bdnews24.com on Thursday ahead of the Chinese leader’s visit scheduled on Oct 14.
Mannan would not disclose the total amount of credit.
He said China expressed its willingness about extending the loans after seeing the possibilities that lie in Bangladesh.
“The prime minister’s leadership has brightened Bangladesh’s image in the world. Bangladesh is a development surprise to the world,” he said.
An official of the finance ministry said the loans would total $40 billion. He spoke to bdnews24.com on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media on the issue now.
According to him, China sent an initial list of 21 projects it wants to invest in through its embassy in Dhaka on Tuesday.
If no big policy changes happen, this list will be final, the finance ministry official said, quoting Chinese officials.
“The conditions and the interest rates have not been set yet,” he added.
The 21 projects are on communication, power, fuel, information technology, industries and development of living standards.
They include four each on railways and road transport and power sectors, five on improving standard of life, two on industries, and one each on fuel and ICT.
Of these projects, the estimated loan to come for the Padma Bridge rail link project is $ 2.57 billion, Dhaka-Chittagong railway project $ 3.03 billion, Dhaka-Ashulia elevated expressway $ 1.39 billion, Sitakunda-Cox’s Bazar marine drive expressway and coastal protection project $ 2.85 billion and four-lane Dhaka-Sylhet highway project $ 1.6 billion.
The projects on the list include $ 2.3 billion expansion and strengthening of power system network under the DPDC and $ 1.32 billion power grid network-strengthening project under the PGCB.
The ICT project that is likely to get $1 billion credit from China is about establishing digital connectivity.
Former Bangladesh Bank governor Muhammad Farashuddin has advised the government to keep the loan conditions soft.
“We need big loans now for big infrastructures in order to build a developed Bangladesh within 2041,” he said.
Source: Bd news24
