The Tk 8,300 crore Single Point Mooring (SPM) with double pipeline project is failing to utilise its full capacity due to non-expansion of the country's refinery capacity. According to official sources, the newly installed SPM can now hardly utilise 60 percent of its capacity while around 40 percent remains unutilised. The SPM project took about nine years to implement and now the project has been operational recently through execution of a test-run. But formally the project will be completed in June this year, said an official of the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC). Officials informed that after recent commissioning of the SPM project, now it takes only 48 hours to transfer the imported petroleum from the mother vessel to storage tanks. Before setting up the SMP, it took 11 to 12 days to bring  the imported fuel to the oil tanker of Eastern Refinery Limited  at Petenga area through lighterage ships, which is very time-consuming, expensive, and risky. Currently, no lighterage is required to carry fuel from the mother vessel, which is now moored at the outer quay, after the implementation of the project, said the officials. 2 KNF operatives killed in army operation in Bandarban: ISPR The SPM was built on over 90 acres of land under a G2G project of Bangladesh and China at a cost of Tk 8341 crore at Maheshkhali Upazila in Cox's Bazar. Officials said that there are three tanks having a storage capacity of 1.80 lakh kilolitre crude oils and three tanks with 1.08 lakh kilolitre furnished oil. Project director of the SPM Sharif Hasanat admitted that the project's 30-40 percent capacity remained unutilised because of the limitations in refining more crude oils. He informed that Bangladesh annually imports about 4.5 million metric tons of refined oils and another 1.5 million metric tons of crude oil from abroad. "Through handling the imported oils, the SPM project now utilises 60 percent of its capacity," he said, adding, if more crude oils are imported SPM can be used for transportation purpose.       Officials said the government has undertaken a project to expand the capacity of the country's only refinery --the Eastern Refinery at Patenga with the title ERL-2 to increase the existing capacity by 3 million metric tons. But that project has not been implemented in the last 14 years since the project was conceived by the Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).     According to official sources, BPC was considering a technical offer of Technip, a French engineering company, which was engaged through an unsolicited process for creating Front End Engineering Design (FEED) involving Tk 371.81 crore for the proposed ERL unit-2 through a contract signed in January, 2017. But Technip has left and a local company is trying to persuade the government to implement the ERL-2 project through public-private partnership (PPP) although that private company has no experience in implementing such a project, said a top official of the BPC. Teen gang leader killed in Chattogram over ‘establishing dominance’ The Unit-2 project was taken by BPC in 2010 to enhance the company’s capacity to 4.5 million metric tons by adding 3 million metric tons from the new one. The Unit-1 of the ERL, was installed in 1968 by the same French company, has an annual production capacity of 1.5 million metric tons. Recently, an Indian firm claimed that it will be involved in the project to implement it at a cost of US 1.7 billion dollars over a period of next three years. Officials said when BPC conceived the idea of ERL Unit-2 in 2010, the project cost was estimated at Tk 13,000 crore. Then, the project’s cost was raised to Tk16,739 crore in a revised proposal. But now, the cost may cross Tk 18,000 crore, he said adding that BPC has sent a new development project proforma (DPP) to the Planning Commission through the Energy and Mineral Resources Division (EMRD) seeking another revision to the cost. The country consumes about 6-6.5 million metric tons (MTS) of petroleum of which 4.8-5 million MTS is imported as refined one while the remaining 1.2-15 million MTS as crude oil to refine those at ERL. Read more: Bangladesh to import 1.5mn metric tons of crude oil from Saudi Aramco, UAE’s Adnoc

The government on Thursday brought a bill in the parliament seeking to make major changes in the role of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Authority of the country  in exercise of financial and administrative powers and performance of functions. The bill titled "The Bangladesh Public-Private Partnership (PPP) (amendment) Bill, 2023" was placed in the House by Liberation Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq who is in charge of Prime Minister Office in parliament. It was then sent to the respective committe for further scrutiny and send it back to the House within 30 days. The existing law states that PPP Authority shall be impartial and independent in exercise of financial and administrative powers and performance of functions. But in the proposed amendment the word ‘independent’ has been dropped. Also read: Bangladesh parliament opens special session to mark Golden Jubilee The Bangladesh Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act, 2015 was enacted to create a partnership with private sector by attracting local and foreign investment aimed at improving living standard of the people and expediting the country's socioeconomic progress as well as building infrastructures. The amendment also proposed to allow vice-chairperson in absence of the chairperson of the PPP Authority to chair any meeting and the number of the meeting per year will be at least two. The bill also seeks to change the appointing authority of the PPP Authority from Board of Governors to the government.  

Prime Minister’s Private Sector Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F Rahman on Wednesday highlighted the importance of partnership between private and public sectors.

Two days after the Chittagong Port Authority took possession of land in Laldiar Char to build it, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its approval in-principle to a project titled “Equip, Operate and Maintenance of Patenga Container Terminal” to be implemented under public-private partnership, or PPP, on Wednesday.

Bangladesh and Japan are in discussion on five projects worth US$8.38 billion under public-private partnership (PPP).

The Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase on Thursday approved eight procurement proposals, including setting up of a 42.5MW waste to energy power project in Dhaka.  

The 4.68km Bhola Bridge on Tentulia-Kalobador River will be built by private sponsor under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme at a cost of Tk 12,916 crore.

Dhaka (Joydebpur)-Mymensingh Highway is going to be upgraded to an expressway as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal to develop the road under public-private partnership (PPP).