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With an international agency playing the go-between, Bangladesh starts negotiation with a Saudi Arabian firm to run the newly-built Patenga Container Terminal (PCT) off the Chattogram seaport, officials say.
If the negotiation with the Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) company sails through, this will be the first Bangladeshi shipping terminal operated by a foreign entity.
However, there are some contradictions in the statements of the Bangladesh side and the RSGT on the awarding of the contract.
The Chittagong Port Authority has appointed the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group as transaction adviser to conduct negotiation with the RSGT.
"If the negotiation becomes successful, then we will sign a deal with the RSGT," shipping secretary Mostafa Kamal told the FE Friday.
Asked whether RSGT has already been awarded the task of operating the terminal, as said by the RSGT itself through issuing a media release, the secretary answered in the negative.
"It is true that we have appointed transaction adviser with an aim to negotiate with the RSGT," he said.
The firm of the oil-rich gulf country in a media release Thursday said it had been nominated over several competing proposals by Bangladesh's Ministry of Shipping to respond to an upcoming Request for Proposal (RFP) to operate the US$240 million PCT, currently nearing completion.
The RSGT was officially advised of the decision of the Bangladeshi Ministry of Shipping on July 28, it said.
"We are extremely pleased to have been selected for this opportunity," says RSGT's Director of Global Investments, Gagan Seksaria.
He feels this project -- situated at the coast of the Bay of Bengal -- fits well with RSGT's competencies and its expansion strategy for emerging markets.
"We are very confident that, through this investment, we will be able to contribute significantly to Bangladesh's fast-growing trade and economy," says Mr Seksaria in an upbeat note.
The terminal, which is about see completion of construction by Bangladesh Army on 32 acres of land, was scheduled to start trial operation late July but couldn't make it for non-completion of some works.
The construction of the 600-metre terminal costs the state exchequer Tk 20.75 billion. The facility will have an annual capacity of handling 450,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of export-import containers.
It will be able to accommodate three vessels, up to 10.5-metre-water draft having 190-metre length, and a 220-metre-long oil tanker at a time.
Vessels up to the size of 4,500 TEUs will be able to take berth in the terminal.
If contract awarded, the RSGT will bring modern equipment and operate the terminal for a period till its handover to the Chittagong Port Authority.