DHAKA, Sept 24, 2018 (BSS) – The China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) is going to set up its South Asia regional center in Dhaka next month to ‘partner with Bangladesh’ in implementing quality projects generating employments.
“We have years of experiences in Bangladesh. We know exactly many things….we have better understanding of the country and region. Bangladesh has the low labour cost and huge labour force and in the next 10 to 20 years it is the time to make those sustainable,” said Kang Hubiao, Vice President of CMC and also chairperson of South Asia Regional Center.
The CMC vice president said this when a 13-member media delegation visited CMC office in Beijing recently. Private Satellite channel RTV CEO Syed Ashik Rahman led the Bangladesh delegation while CMC Director of General Office Wang Kun, Vice General Managers of CMC’s South Asia Regional Center Shi Jingchen and Wei Na, Project manager of CMC Energy Zhang Hui, were present, among others, at the meeting.
Highlighting their operations in Bangladesh in various sectors, Hubiao said they have their biggest vision and business environment in Bangladesh while the upper hand in this South Asian country is the low wage rate.
“I think Bangladesh in a way will take place of China in terms of manufacturing and economic development in the future … with all the advantages and good quality people, management, very hard working and diligent people, we are now moving to Dhaka from Beijing, Singapore and Hong Kong,” he added.
The CMC Vice President informed that they are going to contribute in green energy in Bangladesh with the implementation of a 120 MW solar power plant project in the country.
Asked about the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Hubiao said nuclear energy is green and once established the maintenance cost is very low adding that the power demand would be huge in Bangladesh in the coming years and sooner or later it would be one of the choices or solutions.
About the introduction of high-speed bullet train in Bangladesh, the CMC Vice President said such trains having speed more than 120 kilometers and less than 200 kilometers is feasible not only in Bangladesh, but also in Malaysia and Thailand.
He also informed that the role of CMC is now changing as it sometimes provides suppliers credit as well as equity, conducts feasibility study and finds out contractors. “We are the pace of the development in the world,” he said.
The CMC has already a Bangladesh Office which is mainly engaged in the business of international engineering contracting and track products, complete equipment and ship export.
As part of its long standing partnership with Bangladesh, CMC signed a contract with Bangladesh in November last year for implementing the Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway project.
As for the international engineering contracting, as a pioneer of the coal mining industry in Bangladesh doubtlessly, the CMC signed a project contract of Barapukuria coal mine in 1994 and successfully completed the project in June, 2005. In early 2012, the owners continued to make a Phase II production contract with the company.
Based on successful construction of Barapukuria coal mine, the company signed the Barapukuria coal mine 2X125MW coal-fired power plant construction project with Bangladesh Power Development Board in June, 2001. Unit 1 was successfully put into operation in 2005, and unit 2 was also put into operation in 2006. In August, 2012, the company won the bid of Sirajganj gas-fired power station of combined-cycle 225MW EPC project.