Bangladesh News

A Japanese consultant firm in its first phase survey report submitted to the Ministry of Shipping yesterday recommended Sonadia Island in Cox’s Bazar district as the most suitable place for setting up a deep-sea port in the country.

Tk 42,000 crore would be spent for the port to be completed in three phases by the year 2055.

The Japanese firm, Pacific Consultant International, also made a presentation about the findings of the site selection survey.

Kutubdia Channel in the same district was mentioned as the second most suitable place in the recommendations for the multi-billion dollar port

The Sonadia Island, located between Cox’s Bazar town and Moheshkhali Island in the Bay of Bengal, is isolated from the mainland by a river and it could be connected with bridges and tunnels, and road and railway lines could also be established for cargo carrying, the report said.

There will be hardly any need to evict people as the place is now almost a barren land where only a few thousand fishermen go to live during peak season of fishing in the sea.

The deep-sea port will have 58 jetties with a total of 11-kilometre length.

The shipping ministry has formed a ten-member committee to examine the Japanese firm’s report and finalise the recommendation in next 15 days. The committee includes representatives from the private sector.

The recommendations would be sent to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for final approval, sources said.

After getting final approval from the government, the same firm will be asked to make a second phase survey before beginning the physical construction work of the port. In the second phase, the company will present in details about all the requirements for the port.

Shipping Adviser MA Matin, high officials of the ministry, Cabinet Secretary Ali Imam Majumder, ERD Secretary M Aminul Islam Bhuiyan, Planning Secretary Jafar Ahmed Chowdhury, Shipping Secretary Sheikh Enayetullah and Chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission Faruq Ahmed Siddiqui were present during yesterday’s presentation by the Japanese firm.

The shipping adviser told the journalists that the government would appeal to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for arranging the fund for the port.

The Japanese firm, appointed in August last year for conducting a techno-economic feasibility study for setting up a deep-sea port in the country, will get Tk 14 crore for completing the study within a year.

The company conducted survey on nine places in the coastal belt of Bangladesh.

Of those, the names Patenga, Kutubdia point and Middle Island were dropped after preliminary examination and detailed survey was conducted at six places — Kutubdia Channel, Sonadia Island, Moheshkhali Channel, Elephant point, Saint Martin Island, and Akram point in Khulna.

In the first phase, the company submitted four other reports of the study for the port — inception report, port plan report, port administration model report, and marketing and business administration report.