New terminal to boost Ctg port capacity

Speakers at a programme in Chittagong yesterday expressed resentment that Chittagong port had not seen required infrastructural development for long.

As a result, the port is facing problems to handle the ever-increasing number of vessels and containers, they said.

They made the comments at the programme on the occasion of foundation laying at the project site of Patenga Container Terminal (PCT) in the port city's Patenga area. Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan was present as the chief guest.

The speakers hoped that the timely completion of the Tk 1,868 crore project would boost port activities significantly.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) is going to build the new terminal. The New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) of the port was built 10 years back in 2007. 

The engineering corps of Bangladesh Army has been given the task to execute the project under Delegated Procurement of Public Procurement Rules 2008, as the port is experiencing huge annual growth in container and cargo throughput.

Dr Ashraf Ali, professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), the consulting agency for the PCT, hoped that the project would be completed by 2019.

Once completed, the terminal, having three 200-metre-long container jetties, would be able to handle around 4.50 lakh 20-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers annually, he added.

MA Latif, member of the parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry, said only seven jetties in place of 39 could be built at the port in last 47 years since independence.

Though discussion about three other mega projects -- Laldia Multi-purpose Terminal, Karnaphuli Container Terminal (KCT) and Bay Terminal -- started 10 to 12 years back, no visible progress has been seen in these years, he said.

People behind the negligence, which has been taking toll on the country's economy, should be punished, he demanded. 

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said the port authority had already taken initiatives to implement these projects. 

If the present government comes to power again, these projects will be completed, he hoped.

Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) President Mahbubul Alam said the country's export and import trade is increasing.

Therefore, the port needs to enhance its capacity and efficiency to provide proper service to increasing growth of trade, he added. 

CPA Chairman Rear Admiral M Khaled Iqbal said they had taken different short, mid and long-term projects -- constructing new terminals and purchasing equipment -- to enhance the port's capacity.

He hoped that a vessel's turnaround time, which has reached nearly 3 days recently, would come down to 2 days within a year after implementation of these short and mid-term projects.

The terminal will also have a specialised dolphin oil jetty for unloading oil, backward yards having capacity to store 4,500 TEU containers, road and rail links and other facilities, he added.

Major General Siddiqur Rahman Sarker, chief of engineering corps of Bangladesh Army, said they would start the construction work within 15 days and the total project would be completed before the timeframe.

Afterwards, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan visited container handling equipment at the port.

For easing the port activities, CPA purchased 46 equipment including four rubber-tyred gantry cranes in the last six months at a cost of Tk 138 crore.