After India, Malaysian infrastructure companies are drilling their way into Bangladesh, yet another upcoming South Asian market, with almost RM11 billion worth of projects secured to-date.
The Special Envoy for Infrastructure to India and South Asia Datuk Seri S.Samy Vellu said among the projects were the RM6 billion 1,320 MW power plant in Cox’s Bazar, RM2.3 billion apartment project in Dhaka, the supply of 400 passenger coaches for the Bangladesh Railways worth RM700 million and a RM1.5 billion crude handling facilities project worth RM1.5 billion.
“We will sign the contract for the apartment project this month.
“The rest of the contracts are being negotiated and I expect them to be finalised within a month or so,” he told Bernama ahead of the official visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Malaysia beginning today.
On the power plant project, Samy Vellu said Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Powertek Bhd, a subsidiary of 1MDB, will soon sign a joint venture agreement with the Bangladesh Power Development Board, the state power utility company of Bangladesh.
“After the signing of the joint venture agreement, the three parties will form a joint venture company and embark on a due diligence exercise,” he said.
Emrail Sdn Bhd will partner Ofnir Sdn Bhd and IEV Sdn Bhd to undertake the crude handling facilities project which would also be financed by them.
The supply of the passenger coaches to the Bangladesh Railways will be undertaken by Hartasuma Sdn Bhd with financing, Samy Vellu said.
“We are working on other projects and the Bangladesh government has offered Malaysia more housing projects. It’s a booking market for the housing sector what more with a population of more than 140 million people,” he said.
Samy Vellu said when he was Works Minister, Malaysian companies secured more than RM50 billion worth of infrastructure projects in India.
“We intend to bring in the same amount of investments if not more into Bangladesh. It’s a growing country economically,” he said.
He also said that the Bangladesh Taka (currency) has been strengthening against the US Dollar and the Malaysian Ringgit and its foreign reserves have surpassed more than RM60 billion.
Samy Vellu said he would woo more Malaysian companies to invest in Bangladesh based on the fact that the Muslim country was poised to become the next South Asian “tiger economy” after India.
– Bernama
