Work for entertainment village starts next March

Two international and two local companies have primarily qualified to set up the first ever exclusive tourism resort and entertainment village in Cox's Bazar under public private partnership (PPP) investing approximately Tk 800 crore.

The four companies are Singapore-based Inter-Asia Group Pte Ltd, Thailand-based Siam Group, Orion Group and Premium Group, according to Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) and PPP Office sources.

BPC under supervision of the PPP office of the Prime Minister's Office floated a Request for Qualification (RFQ) last month for the project. The four qualified out of six bidders.

"The qualification and tender evaluation committee will finalise the decision this week," a high BPC official preferring anonymity told the news agency on Thursday.

He said a Request for Proposal (RFP) would be issued for the qualifiers to submit their final proposals for the project, requiring an investment of around Tk 800 crore.

"We are hoping to start the construction… by March next year," he said.

After the four-year construction period, the investment company will enjoy ownership of the entertainment village for 41 years.

Under the project, "development of tourism resort and entertainment village" a five-star hotel, three-star hotel, beach village, pool village, water village, theme park, amusement park, cineplex, swimming zone and shopping mall will be built.

Expected to generate some 500 jobs, the project will be implemented on 130 acres of land of BPC, which now runs the existing Shaibal Hotel, the largest government-owned hotel in Cox's Bazar.

"As per the PPP, we will provide our land for free…The government will share the profits with the investor under a negotiation," said BPC Chairman Dr Aparup Chowdhury.

He said the main goal of the project was to improve tourism infrastructure and facilities in Cox's Bazar to accommodate more local and foreign tourists.

Through the project, he said BPC would like to take a bite of the rising tourist traffic seeking high-end services in Cox's Bazar.

On February 28 this year, the Cabinet Economic Affair Committee in principle approved a proposal placed by the civil aviation and tourism ministry to implement the project under the PPP.