Belgian firm to do maintenance dredging of Rabnabad channel

The Payra Port Authority (PPA) yesterday signed an agreement with a Belgium-based dredging company—Jan de Null—for the maintenance dredging of Rabnabad channel at Payra sea port.

The contract is being executed under the Emergency Maintenance Dredging Project at a cost of about Tk 437.30 crore.

The money will come from PPA funds, according to a press release signed by Jahangir Alam Khan, senior information officer at the shipping ministry.

The Rabnabad channel acts as a supply route for coal-based power plants and various other industries across Bangladesh. Therefore, the project's main objective is to maintain the waterway's 6.3-metre depth through dredging.

As per the agreement, approximately 9.75 million cubic metres of silt will be removed from the inner and outer channels with a length of about 75 kilometres and width of 100-125 metres.

The project is set to be complete within 18 months.

The contract was signed in the presence of Shipping Minister Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, PPA Chairman Commodore Humayun Kallol and Jan de Null's Project Director Jan Moynes.

"Payra Port will act as a pillar to the country's economy by 2035," Chowdhury said.

The benefits of Padma Bridge and Payra Port will spread all over Bangladesh as the country is moving forward under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who's actions are being acclaimed the world over.

"Under her leadership, Bangladesh will enter the developed world before 2041," he added.

The shipping minister went on to say that the construction of Payra port is the prime minister's brainchild.

Economic activities in the country's southern regions will accelerate due to the construction of Payra port, which is the prime minister's brainchild, according to Chowdhury.

Besides, the construction of a naval base and the 'Sheikh Hasina Cantonment' for the protection of the vast sea border is also underway in the area.

Once the Padma Bridge is fully operational, the importance of the southern Payra Port will increase, he added.

The prime minister inaugurated Payra Port on August 19, 2016, three years after the National Parliament passed the Payra Seaport Authority Act on November 3, 2013.

Md Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury, secretary of the shipping ministry, and Commodore Mamunur Rashid, member of the PPA, were also present at the deal signing ceremony.