H.E. Mr. ITO Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh paid a courtesy visit to Ms. Sultana Afroz, Secretary and CEO of Public Private Partnership Authority on 15 February, 2021. He was accompanied by Mr. Takashi Shirai, Second Secretary, the Embassy of Japan in Dhaka.

Honourable Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina in her first Board of Governors meeting of the PPP Authority as Chairperson approved the “Policy for Implementing PPP Projects through Government-to-Government (G2G) Partnership” 2017. PPP Authority is working closely with Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) since then.

Ms. Sultana Afroz, CEO of PPP Authority acknowledged the support of the Japanese people during the liberation war, especially the role of the late Senator Hayakawa. She also recognized Japan as the largest bilateral development partner of Bangladesh. H.E. Mr. ITO Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh also showed his strong commitment of Japan in promoting and development of PPP projects in Bangladesh.

H.E. ITO Naoki appreciated the team spirit at PPPA as they are all motivated to work for PPPA. He was also impressed with the inclusion of interns and consultants outside the regular system as well as maintaining near gender parity in the office, thereby making it the most promising organization in the government structure in Bangladesh.

The Ambassador expressed his interest for the Japanese Embassy work more closely with the PPP Authority. He mentioned that PPP has been high in his agenda.

Ms. Sultan Afroz and H.E. Mr. ITO Naoki discussed about the upcoming Fourth Bangladesh-Japan Joint PPP Platform Meeting which will be held on 24 February 2021 through online platform. They talked about the 5 PPP projects with Japan, including, Construction of Multimodal Transport Hub (MmTH) at Kamlapur and Biman Bandar Railway Stations; Construction of Outer Ring Road (southern part) of Dhaka City; Improvement of Chottogram to Cox’s Bazar Highway; and the Design, Construction, Operation and Maintenance of Mass Rapid Transit MRT Line-2. The total investment needed for these 5 projects is USD8.38 billion which is about 30 percent of the portfolio of PPPA pipeline. It is expected that PPP projects with Japan through Government to Government (G2G) partnership modality will ease the massive financial investment of Bangladesh government.

Ambassador Naoki affirmed that Kajima Corporation is very enthusiastic about undertaking the Multimodal Transport Hub at Kamlapur and Mitsubishi Corporation is keen to invest in concession, operation and maintenance of the Airport terminals in Dhaka.

The Japanese Ambassador appreciated the hospitality extended to him by PPP Authority. He reiterated that he is here to strengthen the cooperation between PPPA and Japan.