The newly appointed Japanese Ambassador in Bangladesh His Excellency Mr. Shiro Sadoshima paid his maiden visit to the Headquarters of Local Government Department (LGED) in Dhaka on December 20, 2011.
On his arrival at LGED Bhaban he was cordially received by Mr. Md. Wahidur Rahman, Chief Engineer, LGED and Taken to the Conference Room where the Japanese diplomat was briefed on the overall functions and achievements of LGED in the growth and management of the infrastructure development in the country through a power point presentation.
While addressing a gathering of senior officials of LGED Mr. Sadoshima said, his mission in Bangladesh is two-fold. One is to look for quality investment in Bangladesh and number two is to let his Japanese folks know more about Bangladesh. The Japanese Ambassador said, Bangladesh is a country that has got very rich human resources. He also said, the Govt. of Japan is now adequately pressurized due to the last devastating earthquake and tsunami effects and that is why they are now forced to work with smaller amount of budgets on international cooperation. JICA has therefore been instructed to identify specific sector and sub-sectors where Bangladesh government is interested to work with Japan, he said.
In his address Mr. Md. Wahidur Rahman, Chief Engineer, LGED said, the present government of Bangladesh has been giving prime importance to production of electricity and construction of Padma Bridge. Besides, the maintenance of the improved structures also remains in the priority list. Mr. Rahman said, LGED gets about 25% of the total maintenance requirements from the revenue budget. World Bank and other development partners provide about another 40% of our requirements, he said. That means, 30-35% of total fund requirement for maintenance in LGED is yet to be addressed, he added. He however gratefully acknowledged JICA’s profound assistance to LGED in the past and hoped that the Govt. of Japan would continue to provide further assistances in future as well.
The Japanese Ambassador was then taken to the various units of LGED to give him an eye-witness account of LGED, one of the largest public sector development agency in the country.