Bay Terminal may draw $8b FDI

The Bay Terminal project, the biggest in the Chattogram port's history, may end up drawing over $8 billion in foreign direct investments (FDI), said Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail yesterday.

Associated deals are expected to be signed over the next three months, he told a views-exchange meeting with journalists at the port on the eve of Port Day.

The day has been celebrated since Chittagong Port Commissioner's Act 1887 (Bengal) came into effect on April 25, 1888 under British colonial rule.

The CPA chairman highlighted progress regarding the construction of the port's six new terminals, including four of the Bay Terminal and the first terminal of Matarbari Deep Sea Port.

The Bay Terminal project's two container terminals, a multipurpose terminal and an oil and gas terminal will all be implemented wholly with FDI, said the CPA chairman.

Construction of the first terminal of Matarbari Deep Sea Port, a part of the Chattogram port, will start very soon as the tender process has been completed and is now awaiting a cabinet committee's approval, he said.

He believes that once these projects were implemented within the next couple of years, the region would become a hub port and cater to the demand of South Asian cargoes by accommodating larger ships.

Bay Terminal has been proposed to be set up on an around 6-kilometre stretch of land from the back of Chattogram Export Processing Zone to Rasmonighat on the Bay of Bengal.

Out of the four terminals, the multipurpose terminal will be built under a joint venture of the CPA with Abu Dhabi (AD) Ports Group.

AD Ports Group offered to invest $1 billion to construct the multipurpose terminal and the port authority has already accepted its proposal.

A large delegation of AD Ports Group would visit the port in early May, said the CPA chairman, hoping for a deal to be signed at that time.

The government is already in an understanding with PSA Singapore and DP World of the United Arab Emirates to construct and operate the two container terminals under a public private partnership (PPP) model.

PSA Singapore and DP World offered to invest $1.5 billion each, said the CPA chairman.

The plan for the liquid bulk terminal was taken up recently.

An investment of $3.5 billion will come for the oil and gas terminal, he said, adding that local East Coast Group and a few global firms would jointly build it.

Once constructed, the country's fuel storage capacity will be equal to 2 months' demand against the current storage capacity of only 25 days, hoped the CPA chairman.

Moreover, the World Bank has announced to provide $0.59 billion for access channel dredging and breakwater construction for the Bay Terminal, he said.

The chairman said the masterplan for the Bay Terminal had been prepared while land acquisition as well as detail drawing and design were nearing completion.

"Now we are preparing estimations, or bill of quantity, to define the quality and quantity of works for Bay Terminal," he said.

He hoped for these works to be completed within the next two to three months, after which the tender process would begin.

Besides, a proposal of AP Moller Maersk for constructing Laldia Container Terminal at the Chattogram port has already been included as a PPP project, he said.

All types of studies regarding the project have been conducted, he claimed, hoping for an agreement to be signed by this year.