The government is planning to construct Payra Multipurpose Terminal with funding from third Indian Line of Credit (LoC) to increase the capacity of Payra Deep Seaport. A senior official of the planning commission told Bangladesh Post the government plans to develop the necessary infrastructure of Payra Deep Seaport to start limited operation by 2019.
The multipurpose terminal for the country's third sea port will be 1200 metres long. The total cost of the project has been estimated at Tk 5,219 crore. Out of the amount, Tk 4,945.46 crore will come from the Indian LoC and Tk 273.12 will come from the government exchequer. This will be the single largest investment for the under-construction Payra port. After completion of its construction, the port's operation including loading and unloading of goods for foreign trade will start.
The authority has plans to invest more than $5.0 billion until 2025 where several works including multipurpose terminal, deep-sea terminal, transshipment terminal, bulk and coal terminal, capital dredging will be conducted. After dredging, ocean-going 16-metres deep and 300-metre long vessels could anchor at the country's 3rd seaport.
An Economic Relations Division (ERD) official said that the fund will come from the third LoC to build the multipurpose terminal. "The fund is ready. India will disburse the funds when the authority will start its construction," he added. Besides, the authority are going to start construction of a separate terminal for handing imported coals to be used for the proposed thermal power plants at Payra as three large coal-based power plants with 1300MW capacity each are also under construction. The sites for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and oil refinery have been started by the private entrepreneurs.
Once the terminal is constructed, it will help improve Bangladesh’s ease of doing business and trading with international markets. The cost of the export and import for products will be also reduced. The project work is planned to start this fiscal and complete by December 2021. However, the planning commission has recommended the authority concerned not to do separate plan.
According to the proposal of Payra authority, they are developing the seaport under short-term, mid-term and long-term plans. In midterm plan, 10-km channel dredging, a container, a bulk and a multipurpose terminal will be completed for starting operation of Payra Deep Seaport by 2023. The Payra port, once developed as per the plan, will be the country's prime port, as it could accommodate higher draught ships unlike the country's two existing seaports –Chattogram and Mongla.
