Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said the whole process, including international tendering process, will be done very transparently as the interim government’s goal is to boost port efficiency with the help of globally reputed companies to take the country’s economy to a new height.
“We can say certainly that the whole process will be transparent. We will talk to those companies which are very prominent globally with their extensive experience of handling ports,” he said while responding to a question during his visit to Chattogram on Friday.
Interacting with journalists in the port city of Chattogram, Alam said they are also looking into the companies which do not have any bad reputation.
“Efforts are there in that direction,” said the Press Secretary, adding that it can be even G2G in some cases instead of open tendering. “But our target is to talk to the top companies of the world so that port efficiency can be enhanced to take the Bangladesh economy to the next stage.”
Chief Adviser’s Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder and DC Farida Khanom were, among others, present.
On Wednesday, Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus directed the persons concerned to quickly settle discussions with potential foreign investors to increase the capacity of Chattogram port with world-class services in an effort to make the country an investment hub.
‘Humanitarian corridor’ issue still quite far off: Shafiqul Alam
"We’ll have to involve such operators in port management so that our ports can gain the ability to compete in the international market. We must make our ports world-class to implement the investment hub that we are talking about,” he said.
The Chief Adviser made the directives at a high-level meeting with officials of the Ministry of Shipping, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority (BEZA), Chittagong Port Authority and other relevant departments at the State Guest House Jamuna.
BIDA and BEZA Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun informed the meeting that the current handling capacity of Bangladesh's seaports is 1.37 million units per year, which can be increased to 7.86 million units in the next five years through proper planning and action.
He said the currently operational New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) of Chittagong Port is capable of handling 1.27 million units per year and Mongla Port is capable of handling 0.1 million units. Their capacities can be increased to 1.5 million and 0.63 million respectively.
Ashik said once the construction of Patenga Container Terminal, Laldia Container Terminal, Bay Terminal and Matarbari Deep Sea Port is completed, Bangladesh will have a handling capacity of more than five million units.
He informed the Chief Adviser about the overall progress in the speedy completion of the Laldia Port work for foreign investment.