South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun has said his country will stand by Bangladesh in its infrastructure journey with state-of-the-art technology and extended experience in infrastructure development.

He was speaking at the opening ceremony of Korea-Bangladesh Infrastructure Cooperation Center (KBICC) in Dhaka today (September 5, 2022).

The South Korean envoy said the opening of KBICC indicates the direction Korea-Bangladesh relations is moving forward.

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“It also demonstrates Korea’s strong commitment to infrastructure development of one of the fastest growing economies in the world,” he said.

With the opening of KBICC, it is expected that PPP collaboration between the two Asian countries will further be reinforced as field-based approach and smoother communication between relevant authorities as well as private sectors are enabled.

KBICC is a branch office of ‘Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation’ (KIND), Korean government’s agency dedicated to promoting and enhancing infrastructure development cooperation with partner countries.

KIND’s main counterpart in Bangladesh is Public Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) as it promotes Korean engineering and construction companies’ participation in Bangladeshi infrastructure projects through PPP scheme.

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Lee Kang-hoon, CEO of KIND; Muhammad Ibrahim, CEO of PPPA; and Mostafa Kamal, President of Korea-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KBCCI), also joined the opening ceremony.

“Policy for Implementing PPP Projects through G2G Partnership” issued by PPPA in 2017 laid the foundation for PPP collaboration between KIND and PPPA as Bangladesh government aims at developing and upgrading public infrastructures with foreign private investors through G2G framework with partner countries.

Since the MoU signed between KIND and PPPA of Bangladesh in April 2019, the two authorities have held four rounds of annual ‘Korea-Bangladesh Joint PPP Platform Meeting’ to list G2G-based cooperative infrastructure projects in Bangladesh.

As of now, five infrastructure projects are in the pipeline under G2G framework between the two countries: Meghna Bridge, Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway, Dhaka Circular Railway, Matarbari-Madunaghat 400kV Transmission Line, and Purbachal New Town Electrical Distribution Line, according to South Korean Embassy in Dhaka.