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2 Saudi ministers due Wednesday to discuss up to 25 Billion dollar investment in phases

Bold part: About Pyra port. The other day I read a news that said about the 75 km of a river digging/extension work near Pyra or what I am not very sure. Can you tell what this 75km long earthwork is all about and why a river has to be dug when Pyra is a seaport? I am a little perplexed. I am not sure if the govt is playing a child's game with the country's export money? Why a river should be dug?

https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangla...ut-steady-progress-in-payra-port-construction

An agreement has been signed between PPA and Netherlands based company Jan De Nul for dredging. By 2021, 75 kilometer long capital and maintenance dredging works is expected to be completed to facilitate up to 10.5 meter drafts of 40000 DWT bulk carriers.

What the massive port area will hold

The port area is expected to have the following constructions in the future: oil refinery, oil terminal, LNG import terminal, coal terminal, ro-ro terminal, trade car terminal, 600 meter long general cargo terminal, 400 meter sand and aggregate terminal, 200 meter grain terminal, 2 kilo meter long deep water container terminal, 2.5 kilo meter long container trans-shipment terminal, 44 meter offshore supply base, support craft harbour, fishing harbour, fabrication facility, dry dock, a 1320MW power plant, air port and free trade zone.
 
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By 2021, 75 kilometer long capital and maintenance dredging works is expected to be completed to facilitate up to 10.5 meter drafts of 40000 DWT bulk carriers.

"Scheduled to start in fall 2018, the dredging of the port’s main channel (River Rabanabad) will enable the port to welcome larger ships", The Daily Star reported.

Why enable a river to become a seaport by paying about a high $700 million for dredging? How about selecting instead a site in the sea where the water depth is good for a deep seaport and connect it with wide H-pile based steel platform/bridge initially to be substituted with a permanent bridge gradually? We do not have to worry about siltation in this case and the draft may be 15m or more.
 
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12:00 AM, March 08, 2019 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:50 AM, March 08, 2019
Saudi Investment: Dhaka places $35b proposal








Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, commerce and investment minister of Saudi Arabia, and Mohammed Bin Mazyed Al-Tuwaijri, economy and planning minister, call on President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban in Dhaka yesterday. The delegation left yesterday after holding discussions with Bangladesh officials on investment opportunities worth $35 billion. PID

saudi_investment_proposal.jpg

Majid Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, commerce and investment minister of Saudi Arabia, and Mohammed Bin Mazyed Al-Tuwaijri, economy and planning minister, call on President Abdul Hamid at Bangabhaban in Dhaka yesterday. The delegation left yesterday after holding discussions with Bangladesh officials on investment opportunities worth $35 billion. PID


Staff Correspondent


The $35 billion investment proposal submitted by Dhaka to Riyadh will be reviewed by a joint working committee headed by a senior minister of Saudi Arabia.

The decision was made at a meeting on Saudi-Bangladesh investment cooperation in a city hotel yesterday.

Majed Bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, the Saudi commerce and investment minister, Mohammed bin Mezyed Altwaijri, the Saudi economy and planning minister, AHM Mustafa Kamal, finance minister of Bangladesh, and Salman F Rahman, prime minister's private industry and investment adviser, were present at the meeting.

Earlier in the day, Bangladesh signed two agreements and four memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Saudi Arabia at the Prime Minister's Office in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Kamal said, “The project proposals that we have placed to them [Saudi delegates] do not cost less than $35 billion.”

The Saudi delegation asked the Bangladeshi side to form a joint working committee headed by Mohammed bin Mezyed Altwaijri in response to the proposals, he added.

Kamal said other ministers from Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia would be included in the committee.

“The Saudi authorities will conduct studies on the proposed projects and then they will inform us about the decision on investment very soon.”

He added he was hopeful of getting a green signal as the committee included the planning minister of Saudi Arabia who was authorised to make the decision.

However, Kamal said the real investment figure would be finalised after the studies were conducted.

A 34-member Saudi delegation arrived in Dhaka last night to join the meeting, with the Saudi commerce and planning ministers having arrived earlier on Wednesday.

“I want to assure you this is a new chapter of Saudi-Bangladesh relationship,” Saudi Commerce Minister Qasabi said during an introductory session yesterday morning.

Terming Bangladesh an “Asian Tiger,” he said his country was “serious” in seeking out and enhancing businesses in Bangladesh.

“We are here to [offer] support. We are here to work, identify scopes, listen and open the highway of dialogue between the two countries.”

He also expressed interest in forming a Saudi-Bangladesh business council to enhance bilateral trade and invite Bangladeshi businesses to Riyadh.

Finance Minister Kamal said when the PM had urged the Saudi king and crown prince in October 2018 to send a business delegation to Bangladesh to get first-hand experience of the prospects of business in Bangladesh.

On her request, the Saudi government sent the high-level team, comprised of two senior ministers, two deputy ministers and business tycoons.

Kamal claimed that the visiting Saudi delegation believed that Bangladesh had improved more.

Bangladesh placed 17 projects for Saudi investment, including a rail link from Bhanga to Pyara port, high speed railway linking Dhaka-Chattogram, establishment of oil-refinery and petro-chemical complex, storage, establishment of aircraft maintenance facility in Lalmonirhat, a manufacturing unit for high-voltage cables and construction of hotels and tourism facilities, along with a Saudi special economic zone in Mirsarai, a urea-ammonia plant and upgrading service of state-owned mobile operator Teletalk to 4G.

2 AGREEMENTS, 4 MoUS SIGNED
Bangladesh inked two agreements and four memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Saudi Arabia.

The deals included a $ 100 million agreement between Alfanar Company and Electricity Generation Company of Bangladesh Limited for 100MW Solar IPP and a $35 million agreement between General Electric Manufacturing Company Limited and Engineering Dimension on manufacturing transformers and electricity devices.

The MoUs included one signed between Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation and Yousuf Al Rajhi Const Est on urea formaldehyde plant; one between Al Maml Trading Est and BMET; an MoU between Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation and Al-Afaliq Group on Saudi-Bangladesh institute of bio-medical engineering and technology; and one between Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation and Riyadh Cables Group of Companies on manufacturing cables.

Welcoming the two Saudi ministers, Hasina conveyed her regards to the Saudi king and the crown prince, reports UNB.

The PM said her government had set up special economic zones where the government was giving land to various companies so that they could establish industries as per their choice.

In this regard, she asked the Saudi entrepreneurs to invest in the special economic zones for mutual benefits.

Talking about THE aeronautics sector, which was identified for Saudi investment, she said the government had enacted a law to set up an Aviation and Aerospace University in Lalmonirhat.

PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTMENT
Replying to a question regarding private sector investment, Finance Minister Kamal said they had placed a list of projects which would be studied before approval.

According to the proposal, around 17 projects were placed to the Saudi delegation at a cost of around $3 billion.

The minister said if they invest here, Bangladesh would fulfill regional demand as well as their expectation.

https://www.thedailystar.net/frontp...aka-places-35-billion-dollar-proposal-1712083
 
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These Arabs are bluffing, probably wants some favor like getting BA troops. They are also looking to gain influence in the Islamic world because of the other more competent contender Turkey.

They won't invest anything. They only invest where they will make a profit. Large sum investments are not goodwill gestures, there is nothing ummah about investments.

BD should sign n number of MoUs of investment they want us to sign and politely decline sending our troops there. BD should also give a diplomatic answer about our ties with Turkey or anybody else they deem as their competitors.
 
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They won't invest anything. They only invest where they will make a profit. Large sum investments are not goodwill gestures, there is nothing ummah about investments.
The SA tycoons will not invest in the scale the BD govt is expecting. However, they may invest hugely in the Stock Market. They will buy a few selected shares when the prices are still cheap. It will heat up the market and create a propensity to invest by the local people. Share prices keep on going up at the continuous news of SA investment and the innocent locals keep on buying.

A time comes when the SA tycoons start selling their shares at high prices making a good profit. Without knowing the background story, the locals keep on buying the shares the Arabs sell until they find no more buyers of the shares they now own. The share market falls like a heavy stone with a heavy loss for the locals and a bonanza for the Arabs.

It is another kind of Hedge Fund controlled by the Arabs from their air-conditioned luxury Corporate Boardrooms in Jeddah and Riyadh. Good and rich people like @TopCat should beware of this possibility.
 
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The SA tycoons will not invest in the scale the BD govt is expecting. However, they may invest hugely in the Stock Market. They will buy a few selected shares when the prices are still cheap. It will heat up the market and create a propensity to invest by the local people. Share prices keep on going up at the continuous news of SA investment and the innocent locals keep on buying.

A time comes when the SA tycoons start selling their shares at high prices making a good profit. Without knowing the background story, the locals keep on buying the shares the Arabs sell until they find no more buyers of the shares they now own. The share market falls like a heavy stone with a heavy loss for the locals and a bonanza for the Arabs.

It is another kind of Hedge Fund controlled by the Arabs from their air-conditioned luxury Corporate Boardrooms in Jeddah and Riyadh. Good and rich people like @TopCat should beware of this possibility.
I am always against hot money and get rich quick. They are not sustainable.

Bold part: About Pyra port. The other day I read a news that said about the 75 km of a river digging/extension work near Pyra or what I am not very sure. Can you tell what this 75km long earthwork is all about and why a river has to be dug when Pyra is a seaport? I am a little perplexed. I am not sure if the govt is playing a child's game with the country's export money? Why a river should be dug?
Its not river but the sea where they dont have draft of 10 meter due to continuous siltation from Megna river. It again not a one time job.. they contractor has to do it continuously to maintain the channel navigable around the year.
Japanese said not feasible, Indian said not feasibel, Chinese said not feasible. The only exceptions are Barisailla politicians.
 
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Its not river but the sea where they dont have draft of 10 meter due to continuous siltation from Megna river. It again not a one time job.. they contractor has to do it continuously to maintain the channel navigable around the year.
Japanese said not feasible, Indian said not feasibel, Chinese said not feasible. The only exceptions are Barisailla politicians.
@TopCat, I find you an all-hearing good person. Now, let me know if my suggestions on the location of Payra port is practical or not. A man pushes his food through the mouth because it is the only way to eat. But, BD politicians are trying to feed the country by pushing the food through the noses.

You will understand that there is certainly a line in the sea (maybe 2, 3 or 5 km away from the shore) where the draft is 15.0 m or more. Now, how about building the port there on steel structures and connecting it with the land by, say, a 30m wide access also built on H-piles and steel platforms that can be gradually replaced with a permanent bridge?

Build the port in a zigzag swastika shape so that 20 or 30 ships can anchor simultaneously. Build also a seawall from east to west with an overlapped opening for the passage of ships. A seawall protects the port from the high waves caused by cyclones/storms. High waves cannot overtop the high seawalls making the port and anchored ships safe.

I can see that the wrong location has been selected. Many months ago I have criticized the location of Teesta Barrage. The length of the river is about 121 km from the Indian border before falling into the Jamuna. Instead of building the barrage very near to the confluence with the Jamuna, it was built about 105 km upstream. Instead, it should have been built near the Jamuna.

Now, Payra port location is also the same. It should be located in the sea but is constructed in the canal that does not have even 5m draft. What an idiocracy!!

@Atlas
 
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An infographic map is needed methinks. Maybe the planning included freak incidents like tsunami and/or cyclone?
 
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