Experts warn MIDI project threatens people and ecosystems

Civil society leaders, community representatives, and energy experts from Bangladesh, Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Asia participated in an online seminar titled "MIDI Master Plan: Bluffing about Benefits!" to challenge the Moheshkhali–Matarbari Integrated Infrastructure Development (MIDI) master plan.

The event was organised by the Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN).

The JICA-backed plan aims to transform 20,400 acres (over 5,000 hectares) into a strategic economic corridor with ports, LNG terminals, industrial zones, and energy hubs.

Keynote presenter Hasan Mehedi, member secretary of BWGED, said the MIDI plan prioritises a "Singapore-style dream" over the realities faced by local communities. He warned that more than 100,000 people were at risk of displacement and criticised the lack of meaningful consultation.

Yuki Tanabe, programme director of JACSES Japan, stated that the project would displace 100,000–116,000 people, harm coastal ecosystems, and entrench Bangladesh's reliance on fossil fuels for decades. He argued that JICA's LNG expansion contradicts the G7 commitment to phase out fossil fuel finance and exposes Bangladesh to global price fluctuations.

Bareesh Hasan Chowdhury, campaign and policy coordinator at BELA, said faulty demand forecasts, inflated economic returns, and the revival of shelved coal projects proved the plan was "fundamentally flawed".

Makiko Arima, senior finance campaigner at Oil Change International, said: "Japan's gas demand is shrinking at home, yet it is pushing LNG and ammonia power plants abroad through JICA and JBIC. The MIDI master plan is not about development; it is about exporting Japan's surplus gas contracts onto vulnerable economies like Bangladesh."

Abul Kalam Azad, manager of the Just Energy Transition programme at ActionAid, said: "We are already suffering from land grabs and ecosystem destruction. The MIDI master plan is not development—it is destruction."

Hussain Jarwar, CEO of Indus Consortium, Pakistan, added that Japanese fossil fuel finance was destabilising South Asia and warned that the MIDI project risked repeating Pakistan's experience of debt, pollution, and energy insecurity.

The webinar concluded with participants calling for immediate action and regional cooperation. They urged JICA and JBIC to stop all fossil fuel projects under the MIDI plan, requested that the Bangladesh government suspend land acquisitions and consult affected communities, and encouraged policymakers to prioritize renewable energy, just transition strategies, and climate resilience.