The government is set to build a central effluent treatment plant under a public private partnership for proper waste management inside the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Industrial City in Mirsarai, said Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said yesterday.

The plant will cost the government about Tk 185 crore, said an official of the cabinet committee requesting anonymity.

The government will bear 40 per cent of the cost of the industrial park, which currently comprises Mirsarai, Feni and Sitakunda economic zones. The rest will come from the private sector, he said.

Industries inside the 30,000-acre city will not need to set up individual treatment plants, Kamal said during a press briefing after a meeting of the cabinet committee on economic affairs. The CETP project got the nod at the meeting.

The industrial city will be the country's future investment capital, where about 15 lakh people will get direct employment and almost 30 lakh indirectly, he said.

A township will be grown surrounding the city, the impact of which will be felt across the country thanks to a potential rise in economic activities.

"The industrial park will show the world that Bangladesh can build big and heavy industries," Kamal said.

The city is being built as part of the government's plan to put 100 economic zones in place for foreign and domestic entrepreneurs by 2030 and create one crore jobs.

The Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority expects $20 billion to $25 billion to flow in to the industrial city considering the proposals it has been receiving for the last two years.

Adani Group of India, Wilmar of Singapore, Kunming Irom and Steel Group and Jindun Group of China, Sumitomo Corporation and Mitsui & Co. of Japan, SK Group of South Korea and local giants Summit, Bashundhara, ACI, PHP Family, BSRM and some others have booked their industrial plots at the zone.

Indian corporate giant Adani Group is likely to start the site development work of a special economic zone for Indian investors by this June, where billions of dollars of investment are expected to pour in from the neighbouring country.

The cabinet also approved a project yesterday to import about 4.5 lakh tonnes of Diammonium Phosphate at a cost of Tk 1,329.5 crore from Saudi mining company Maaden.

Another project got approval to bring in some 15,278 tonnes of jet fuel at $3.95 per barrel and 14,401 tonnes of diesel at $2.95 per barrel. PT Bumi Siak Indonesia Pusako will supply the oil.

Five other projects were also approved by the cabinet.