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A joint venture (JV) of two Japanese companies will construct Bangladesh's first deep-sea port at Matarbari in the south-eastern district of Cox's Bazar.
In a milestone development in the implementation of the Tk 243.81 billion project, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) signed a contract with leading Japanese construction firms Penta-Ocean Construction Company Ltd and TOA Corporation at a ceremony at Le Meridien Dhaka on Tuesday.
CPA Chairman Rear Admiral SM Moniruzzaman and Penta-Ocean General Manager (maritime) and Head of Civil Engineering Division Tomokazu Hasegawa signed the Tk 61.96 billion contract on behalf of their respective sides.
Shipping Adviser Brig Gen (retd) Dr M Sakhawat Hussain attended the event and said the project would open new horizons for international trade and transform the country's economic landscape.
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral M Nazmul Hassan; Senior Secretary of the shipping ministry Mohammed Yousuf; Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Japan in Bangladesh Naoki Takahashi, Minister; and Chief Representative of Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) Bangladesh office Tomohide Ichiguchi were present as guests, among others.
The project is expected to turn Bangladesh into a maritime hub for international trade.
The Japanese joint venture will carry out the project's civil works, which include a 300-metre-long multipurpose berth for ships up to 200 metres in length; a 460-metre-long container berth for vessels up to 350 metres, digging a 14.3km channel, and construction and installation of terminals.
The depth of the channel will be 16 metres and width will be 350 metres.
CPA will extend the North Breakwater dam by 397 metres and procure two key-gantry cranes, one multipurpose gantry crane, six rubber-tyred gantry cranes, and three tugboats.
Besides, port-related buildings, pavement, sea walls, retaining walls, and boundary walls will be developed in the next two years and a half.
The port will have well-planned road, rail, and river connectivity. This will help imported and exported products reach their destinations easily and at low costs.
Moreover, the port will facilitate the imports of coal, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil and oil-like products, cement, clinker, fertiliser, food, steel, scrap iron, etc.
The speakers at Tuesday's event termed the port a game changer, which would play a role in investment as well as regional and international trade, along with offering smooth connectivity.
The shipping adviser said the project would be integrated with all other ports.
"Smart and very efficient ports connected with international routes are important for us," he said, adding that the infrastructure project would play a role in strategic investment in the future of the country.
JICA's Ichiguchi said the port would serve as a new maritime gateway for Bangladesh and a driver of economic growth in the long run.
Once completed, the port is expected to accommodate large-scale container vessels, significantly reducing the current dependency on transhipment ports in the region, he said.
This will result in a shorter lead time, reduced costs for importers and exporters, and enhanced reliability of trade routes, all of which are vital for boosting Bangladesh's global trade competitiveness and investment attractiveness, Ichiguchi added.
CPA and Roads and Highways Department undertook the Matarbari Port Development Project, which started in January 2020 with a target to be completed by December 2029.
The project cost, which was Tk 177.77 billion, rose to Tk 243.81 billion after revision.
The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) meeting on October 7 last year approved a 37 per cent cost rise and a three-year deadline extension for the project.
After completion, the port is expected to handle approximately 0.6 to 1.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers, which would increase to 2.2 to 2.6 million TEUs by 2041.
The port will be capable of handling the berthing of large container vessels with a capacity of 8,200 TEUs.
JICA is financing Tk 179.69 billion in the country's first-ever multipurpose port project, which aims to establish an industrial belt in the Bay of Bengal named Big B.
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