NEW DELHI/DHAKA — Bangladesh may shelve an $8 billion deepwater port project it has been negotiating with China, a government minister said on Thursday, as it looks to pursue a nearby facility financed by the Japanese instead. Such a decision would be a setback for Chinese President Xi Jinping's “One Belt One Road” initiative to build a network of ports and expressways and help expand trade, investment and influence in the region. Dhaka has cleared Japan's proposal to finance and build a seaport in Matarbari, located some 25 km from Sonadia, where Beijing had offered to construct the country's first deep water port, Planning Minister Mustafa Kamal said. He said that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) had offered 80 percent financing on easy terms to build four coal-fired power plants of 600 MW each and a port complex in Matarbari. That offer prompted a review of whether the Sonadia project was needed at all. Two Japanese companies, Sumitomo Corp and Marubeni Corporation, have bid to participate in the power plant construction project. — Reuters
