CPA chairman denies liability of port activity

Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Rear Admiral Zulfiquer Aziz yesterday denied that activities in the port was in any way responsible for the recent week-long acute traffic congestion on the port city’s important thoroughfare, that links the city with the port and the airport.

He opined that vehicular movement was being hampered on the road since it was narrowed down at many points mainly due to cracks developed on it, following heavy rainfall and waterlogging, immediate repair work by city corporation on those damaged portions and also due to the ongoing construction work of elevated expressway on a portion of the road.

The port chairman was addressing a press conference, following reports published in media accusing CPA of the gridlock.

The city’s traffic was badly disrupted for more than a week till July 17, hurting business activities at the two adjoining export processing zones and causing sufferings to thousands of city commuters; many who had booked air tickets to travel had to miss their scheduled flights due to it.

Zulfiquer Aziz, however, admitted that due to a lack of alternative road, goods- and container-carrying vehicles to and from the port have to use the same road.

Hundreds of those vehicles remain waiting in long queues on a part of the thoroughfare throughout most of the day before getting entry to the port as there is no truck terminal in the city, and it apparently worsened the congestion but the port is not responsible for this, he said.

He claimed that during the period, daily delivery of containers from the port were less than 4,000 TEUs (twenty equivalent units), which was not much higher than a normal busy day, and that shows that the port’s activities were not the main reason for the gridlock.

The daily delivery at different times in the last few months rose up to 5,000 to 6,000 TEUs, but such traffic jam was never created before, he said.

He underscored the need for immediate construction and development of two proposed alternative ring-roads including one stretching from Agrabad Access Road to EPZ Road through Boropole and Anandabazar, and the other connecting GEC-Sagarika-City Protection Embankment for the use of port-bound vehicles.

Development of these two roads would reduce traffic on the existing thoroughfare to airport as well as enhance the port’s productivity, he said.

Aziz informed that the CPA initiated to construct a truck terminal at its proposed Bay Terminal site, which would be make operational by the end of 2020.

CPA is preparing a database of the port users as well as drivers and helpers, and that is why it has made submission of documents like driving licence and NIDs mandatory for them, as part of ISPS (International Ship and Port Facility Security) Compliance, said the port chairman, adding that they would now issue passes at several spots beside the port gates in order to expedite it and reduce the delay.