Members of the newly formed Maheshkhali Integrated Development Authority (MIDA) met with Chief Advisor Professor Muhammad Yunus. It was led by MIDA Chairman Chowdhury Ashiq Mahmud Bin Harun.
The meeting of the Chief Advisor was held at the State Guest House Jamuna today (September 3, 2025) at noon. MIDA members Commodore Tanzim Faruk and Md. Sarwar Alam and Chief Advisor’s Chief Coordinator for SDG Affairs Lamia Morshed and Secretary to the Chief Advisor’s Office Md. Saifullah Panna were also present.
The MIDA Chairman gave a presentation on the Maheshkhali-Matarbari project in the meeting. He presented MIDA’s work plan for the next four months.
Ashiq Chowdhury said that the project will be completed in three phases – the first phase from 2025 to 2030, the second phase from 2030 to 2045, and the third phase from 2045 to 2055. If the project is implemented, it will provide direct and indirect employment to about 2.5 million people and add 150 billion US dollars to the GDP, he said.
The Chief Advisor said, “We have to work with the vision of building a blue economy, not just a deep sea port. That area will not only be a facilitating zone, but a new city will be born there. From there, we will have international connectivity. The sea will be our highway to the world.”
The Chief Advisor laid special emphasis on research on the deep sea. He also emphasized on building an international standard training facility in the Maheshkhali region. In this regard, Professor Yunus suggested taking advice and cooperation from experts in the world if necessary.
He said, “We have never entered the world of sea. I didn’t even think about that. There is no research or findings on this. We need to find out what research is available on this, research papers from other countries that are similar to ours, and do our own research. For this, we need institutions. We need to build academia, organize an international conference on ocean economy.’
Along with this, the chief advisor also emphasized on environmental conservation. The meeting also discussed setting up an eco-tourism park.
The chief advisor said, ‘We need to plan what the current state of the forest there is, and what state we want the forest to be in in the future.’
