Kunhwa Engineering and Consulting Company Limited and Dian Yang Construction and Engineering Company Limited, will ink an agreement with the Chhattogram Port Authority for designing the Bay Terminal and supervising its construction. The agreement will come into effect on May31. Under the Tk126.5 crore agreement, the companies will prepare a detailed drawing of the design of the terminal and tender documents, and supervise the construction of the terminal, to be funded by the port.
Earlier, on 7 April, the government approved a proposal to appoint consulting firms at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Public Procurement. The government took the initiative to build the terminal in 2015. In July 2019, the prime minister approved the implementation of the Bay Terminal project through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) system.
In total three terminals will be constructed, of which, one will be funded by the Chattogram Port while private foreign funds will invest in the other two terminals. It is yet to be decided which foreign company will build the other two terminals.
But already China Merchants Sport Holding Company Limited of China; DP World of the United Arab Emirates; PSA International of Singapore, APM Terminals of Denmark, Adani Port of India, and Hyundai Group and International Port Development Cooperation of South Korea have expressed interest to construct and operate the remaining two terminals.
Port officials say the government wants to implement the project by 2025. The signing of agreements with the two Korean firms is going to be a big step in the implementation of the project.
Rafiul Alam, executive engineer of Chattogram Port and also the focal person of the Bay Terminal Project, said, “Various issues, including how many jetties will be built in this terminal, how many ships can be loaded, how much money will be spent for preparation of tender documents and construction of the terminal, will be finalised through the signing of the agreement.”
Mahbubul Alam, president of the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the signing of the agreement is positive news. However, it is important to ensure that the project is completed on time. At present, ships larger than 9.5 metres deep and 190 metres long cannot enter the Chattogram Port. The Bay Terminal will be able to accommodate ships up to 12 metres deep and 260 metres long. There will be no need to depend on high tide to berth the ships. The Bay Terminal will be built on about 2,500 acres of land, including 871 acres of privately owned and government land and another 1,600 acres that emerged from the sea. The area of the terminal will be six times more than the current operational area of the port. If the project is implemented, it will be possible to berth a ship with 6,000 containers. The current port jetty can accommodate a ship with a maximum capacity of 1800 containers.
