Japanese firm TOA Corporation has finally won the contract for developing land and other related works for the construction of an exclusive economic zone for Japanese investors in Araihazar upazila of Narayanganj.

Two Japanese firms — TOA Corporation and Tokyu Construction — vied for the job of one of the country’s largest economic zones taking part in the tender floated by Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (Beza) under the Prime Minister’s Office.

In the final evaluation, TOA Corporation came out to be the lowest responsive bidder quoting the value of the job at Tk 1081.45 crore to develop the economic zone.

According to official sources, Tokyu Construction’s offer was 15.72 percent higher than the estimated cost of Tk 994.41 crore while TOA’s offer was 8.75 percent higher.

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase at a meeting on December 12 with Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal in the chair approved TOA Corporation’s offer.

After the approval, the finance minister said the project will play an important role in attracting Japanese investors who have been showing keen interest to invest in Bangladesh.

“We’re receiving overwhelming response from Japanese investors to invest in Bangladesh. This will facilitate their investment,” he told reporters.

According to official sources, the government has a plan to develop the economic zone on 1,000 acres of land in Araihazar. The first phase will be implemented on 500 acres of land that have already been acquired while the second phase will be developed on the remaining 500 acres.

Officials said the land development works include construction of boundary wall, connecting roads, pond retention and pumping station which was taken up under a package work of WD-1.

They said the Beza floated the tender on February 15 last and closed the bid submission on April 18.

The sources said the proposed economic zone, to be named as Bangladesh Special Economic Zone (BSEZ), is being developed exclusively for Japanese investors as the follow-up of a decision taken during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Japan in May 2014 and Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to Bangladesh in September the same year.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has already approved a Tk 2,582.17-crore project to this end and Japanese multilateral donor Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is financing the project.