The investment in the bay-terminal will be ten billion dollars

Port Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail said about the possibility of foreign investment of about 10 billion dollars in the Bay Terminal of Chittagong Port. He said that Chittagong Port’s priority project Multipurpose Terminal is planned to start within this year, he said, Abu Dhabi Port Group (AD Ports) has proposed to invest one billion dollars in the construction of the terminal in joint venture with the port. The port chairman gave this information in a press conference organized at Shahid Fazlur Rahman Munsi Auditorium of Chittagong port on Wednesday afternoon. This press conference was organized on the occasion of 137th anniversary of Chittagong Port Authority. In the press conference, Port Chairman Mohammad Sohail said that although it was decided to build three terminals in Bay Terminal, now four terminals will be built. Chittagong Port Authority will build multipurpose terminal. Construction of two container terminals will be given to foreign companies. To ensure the country’s energy security, the plan to construct a liquid gas and oil terminal as the fourth terminal has been accepted. PSA Singapore and DP World have offered to invest $1.5 billion and $3 billion, respectively, to operate Bay Terminal’s two container terminals 1 and 2. The agreement will be signed within this year. In addition, half a billion dollars will be invested in the construction of the channel of the bay terminal. Claiming that the highest foreign investment is in the bay terminal, the port chairman said that this is the highest foreign investment. Land for Bay-Terminal has been acquired, master plan has been prepared. Now the detail design work is going on. Channel design is finalised. Mentioning the past one year as important for Chittagong Port, Mohammad Sohail said that there have been many changes in Chittagong Port in the past one year. For the first time in the history of the port, a foreign company has been entrusted with the management of the terminal. In the meantime they have hired manpower and brought some equipment. The rest of the equipment will also come. As a result competition with other terminal operators has started. Stating that Chittagong port is moving towards land lord system, Mohammad Sohail said that most of the ports in the world operate in this system. We are also now coming out of the old shell in keeping with the modern port. As a result, there has been a huge investment interest of foreigners. Six major projects of the port are in progress. Cox’s Bazar deep sea port is awaiting final approval. I have started the process of purchasing the equipment. The Roads and Highways Department is working on the construction of connecting roads for goods transportation. Besides, there is a railway line up to Cox’s Bazar. A depot will be constructed next to the railway line. From there goods can be transported by rail. The logistics cost will be reduced by 50 percent if the Bay-Terminal and Matarbari port become operational. The second phase of land acquisition for Matarbari port is going on. Acquisition work will start in next 6 to 7 months. It was informed in the press conference that the work of changing the tariff of the port is going on. Since 1986 the fixed tariff has been collected by the port. Now the price of fuel has increased. Our tariffs are low compared to neighboring countries. New tariff proposals are made. In response to a journalist’s question, Mohammad Sohail said that five lakh container handling rent must be paid in PCT every year to the foreign operator who has received the work order, whether container handling or not. Everyone knows about the needs of Bangladesh. Commenting on the safe release of MV Abdullah, the country’s image has improved, the port chairman said, the country’s image has been brightened as the MV Abdullah ship was safely freed from the pirates of Somalia. This has been made possible by the sincerity of the government including the Prime Minister, diplomatic activities of Bangladesh. Chittagong Port Board Member (Engineering) Captain Mahbubur Rahman, Member (Administration and Planning) Habibur Rahman, Member (Finance) Shahidul Alam and Secretary Md. Omar Farooq was present.