The Chattogram Bay Terminal with a budget of around Tk. 25,000 core will be launched by 2024. If implemented, more than 50 lac containers can be kept in it.
One of them will be built by Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) with its own funds. The other two will be built in the form of Public Private Partnership (PPP) with the help of foreign entrepreneurs.
The GTZ agreement has already been signed with the Singapore Port Authority (PSA). Investors from DP World, Denmark and China have also expressed interest in building the other two terminals.
Like all modern terminals in the world, users want all the facilities of a developed jetty including special jetty and breakwater in this project.
If the mega project Bay Terminal is launched, the burden of Chattogram port will be reduced. At a reduced ship congestion, import-export expenditure will be reduced.
State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury had recently visited 6 kilometer area of the Bay Terminal on the Patenga coast near Chattogram Port.
He told to Bangladesh Post that the Bay Terminal like Padma Bridge, Matarbari Deep Sea Port and Payra Port are also priority dream projects of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. So there will be no financial crisis in the implementation of this project.
According to the concerned sources, the project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 1, 2018. The site for the construction of the terminal was selected on the sea coast of Patenga Halishahar area near Chattogram port.
But due to land complications, the construction of the Bay Terminal came to a halt for some time.
The construction of the Bay Terminal is in full swing after the recent land crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.
In the meantime, the port has started the development work of the 67 acres land purchased singly with its own funds, so that the work of filling the soil, construction of yard and construction of truck terminal is going on.
The district administration of Chattogram will hand over the remaining 804 acres of land to the port as soon as possible.
The port users demanded to implement the work of this terminal which is running at a snail's pace due to various reasons including long-term land acquisition complexity.
They demanded that a bay terminal should be built with a plan for the next 100 years, which would have all the modern facilities including special jetty, brake water, LPG, LNG terminal.
Khairul Alam Sujan, Director of the Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association, told Bangladesh Post that the Bay Terminal needs to be built with a plan for the next 100 years to have all the modern facilities, including special jetties and breakwater.
According to Chattogram Port sources, the port handles about 93% of the country's sea imports and exports. To reduce the pressure on the port, the government has taken initiative to build a bay terminal.
Ships will be able to come and go 24 hours a day at the 6 km long Bay Terminal near the Bay of Bengal in Chattogram. The project will have access to rail, road, sea and airport.
Reducing import costs will save a huge amount of foreign exchange. Ship-congestion will decrease in the port.
Port Secretary Omar Faruq said, I hope the Chattogram district administration will explain the land to the port soon.