Bangladesh to become commercially important like Singapore: Shipping Minister

Shipping Minister Dr Afsarul Amin on Sunday said Bangladesh could be turned into a commercially important country like Singapore with the implementation of the proposed deep seaport project.

"If we can implement the deep seaport project at Sonadia Island in time and maintain the standard of service we may expect a new Singapore within Bangladesh," he said, adding that the deep seaport might be a major vehicle of economic development of Bangladesh.

The minister made the remarks while speaking as chief guest at a workshop titled 'Techno-Economic Feasibility Study of a deep Seaport in Bangladesh' held at Sonargaon Hotel in the city. Prime Minister's Adviser on Economic Affairs Dr Mashiur Rahman was the special guest at the inaugural session of the workshop, chaired by acting Shipping Secretary M Masud Elahi.

Joint Secretary (Commercial) of the Shipping Ministry M Abdul Quddus, private sector expert of Pacific Consultants International, Japan Dr Eddy Declercq and its team leader Nobuaki Nagao, among others, also addressed the session. The Shipping Minister said the government would go ahead with the project after reviewing the feasibility study report, which will be implemented in three phases -- short term (2009-2020), medium term (2021-2035) and long term (2036-2055).

He hoped that the current inability of welcoming mother vessels and bulk container vessels in the anchorage by Chittagong and Mongla port would be removed if the deep seaport is finally implemented.

Dr Afsarul Amin said it would attract mother vessels, reduce cost of transportation by at least 15 percent, facilitate Foreign Direct Investment and ensure smooth trade in the whole country.

Since there is no operational deep seaport in Myanmar and also on the east coast of India, he said there is possibility that a deep seaport in Bangladesh can provide services to these areas in addition to supporting Chittagong and Mongla ports in handling increased volume of export and import cargoes.

PM's Economic Adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman said the deep seaport project should be implemented urgently to bring a radical change in country's economy.

Emphasizing on public-private partnership to implement the project, he said individual investment must be encouraged which will help to bring foreign investment in bulk volume for the earlyimplementation of the project.

He said the government would give priority to waterways communication, which is the cheapest means of transportation.

Dr Eddy Declercq said Chittagong port would get 30 percent share of the deep seaport while the remaining 70 percent share would go to public-private investors. He proposed a management for the deep seaport with directors from both public and private sectors.

During the short-term period, he said all cargoes except clinker and liquid bulk cargoes would be handled. The deep seaport in its first phase will have five international container berths.

Later, four reports on the draft of the final feasibility study were presented in the workshop analyzing various aspects of the project.

Acting Shipping Secretary M Masud Elahi, joint secretary (commercial) of Shipping Ministry M Abdul Quddus, Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) chairman Commodore RU Ahmed and Captain AKM Shafiqullah of Department of Shipping presented the reports.

April 13, 2009,
BDT 12:00 AM