China EXIM Bank pledges to provide $249 million for the modernization of the Mongla Port in Bangladesh in 2016

During President Xi Jinping's 2016 state visit to Bangladesh from October 14-15, 2016, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to finance the expansion and modernization of Mongla Port facilities. According to an October 2016 article from Asia News Network, the total estimated cost of the project was 550 million USD, of which China would provide 249 million USD through a soft loan. The remainder of the funding would be provided by the Government of Bangladesh. According to IJGlobal, China Exim Bank would provide a 350.7 million USD export credit facility for the project, and the Government of Bangladesh would provide 199.3 million USD of equity investment for the project. The transaction amount has been coded as 249 million USD, since this is the lowest figure reported. According to the October 2016 article from Asia News Network, China National Complete Engineering Corporation was selected to implement the project. The Mongla Port Authority website does not appear to include information related to Chinese financing or implementation of Mongla Port modernization, and the China National Complete Engineering Corporation website similarly does not seem to contain information related to this project. It is verified that CNCEC failed to acquire the funding and stopped communicating with the Bangladeshi side. On July 8, 2021, the government signed a MOU with China Civil Engineering Construction Company, who stated it would be able to fund the project. In 2023, it was announced that China had agreed to finance the port expansion and modernization project.

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