An investment agreement on a 42.5-megawatt waste power generation project in Aminbazar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, was signed on Dec 1 between Sinomach subsidiary China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and the local governments, Power Grid Company of Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Power Development Board.

Representatives of China and Bangladesh sign the cooperation agreement of the 42.5-megawatt waste to power project on Dec 1. [Photo/CMEC]

It is Bangladesh's first waste-to-power project and is expected to be the largest project of its kind in South Asia after completion.

The project, developed by CMEC under the investment-construction-operation model, has a daily domestic waste disposal capacity of 3,000-tons.

It will meet the residential electricity demand of about 1.1 million people and solve the domestic garbage disposal problem for 6 million people in North Dhaka, increasing the well-being of local people.

China and Bangladesh put a high value on their joint environmentally-friendly cooperation project.

The signing ceremony brought together nearly 300 guests including Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming and Bangladesh Ambassador to China Mahbub Uz Zaman.

In his speech, Li noted that China and Bangladesh have been working together to expand cooperation on green investment, adding that the low-carbon and sustainable development of Bangladesh will be the theme of bilateral investment cooperation in the future.

Li said the project is a concrete demonstration of China's commitment to green and low-carbon energy structure adjustment.

Ambassador Mahbub Uz Zaman called China Bangladesh's most reliable friend, saying the two neighbors have been sharing a friendly history of exchanges since ancient times

He said that the Belt and Road Initiative has boosted exchanges between China and Bangladesh, and bilateral cooperation has injected great vitality into the economic and social development of both sides.

Since CMEC entered the Bangladesh market in the 1990s, it has undertaken many high-quality projects benefiting local residents, such as the construction of No 1 and 2 210MW gas fired thermal power plants for the Chittagong Power Station, the expansion of national stored program control exchanges, and the expansion of 2.5G and 3G mobile telecommunication networks.