Andhra Pradesh’s desire to be part of Big-B has nothing to do with superstar Amitabh Bachchan. An ambitious coastal industrial development project between Japan and Bangladesh has prompted Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu to initiate efforts to get the project extended to his state.
In September this year Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina, during the former’s visit to Dhaka, decided to pursue the ‘Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt’ or BIG-B. The initiative would boost industrial agglomeration along the Dhaka-Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar area by developing infrastructure, improving investment environment and fostering connectivity between the two countries.
There are three elements to The Bay of Bengal Industrial Growth Belt. The first is industry and trade, the second is energy, with transportation being the third. Among the projects under BIG-B, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is to provide $406 million to construct the 1,200 mw Matarbari Ultra Super Critical Coal-Fired Power project in Bangladesh’s first deep sea port for coal. Matabari is located 60 km south of Chittagong.
With its advanced technologies, Japan through BIG-B aims to improve Bangladesh’s transportation and infrastructure, ensure stable supply of power and energy, bring about urban development including special economic zone improvement, and also public sector development including improved market access to the financial market.
Having learnt about BIG-B during his last week’s visit to Japan, Naidu wants the project to reach the shores of Andhra Pradesh. “After all, with a length of over 1,000 km, Andhra Pradesh has the longest coastline in the east coast of India, and would stand to benefit immensely if it associates itself with the Bay of Bengal industrial corridor,” the AP CM is said to have concluded.
Wasting no time, Naidu has decided to pursue AP’s link-up with BIG-B at the highest level. According to sources in the Naidu administration, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and minister of state for commerce and industry Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi on December 7 to lobby for India taking up AP’s inclusion in the BIG-B project.
“Industry and trade, energy and transportation, the three elements of BIG-B, are exactly what Naidu wants to concentrate on. So, extension of BIG-B to Andhra Pradesh will make the Bay of Bengal a strategic region as far as Indo-Japanese relations are concerned,” a senior AP government official said. AP is seeking Japan’s involvement in the development of the new capital, infrastructure, energy, transportation, ports, smart cities etc. “Extending the area to Andhra Pradesh which has a master plan to develop a string of ports along its 1000 km-long coast along with industrial and petrochemical corridors will further push the boundaries of BIG-B to the benefit all the nations around the big bay. And it will have the potential to influence the global economy as well,” the official added.
– TNN