Handover of 500 acres of land for Bay Terminal at final stage
The process for handing over the government-allocated 500 acres of khas land for the Bay Terminal project of Chattogram port at a token price of Tk 3 crore has at last reached its final stage.
In three separate letters, the Chattogram district administration yesterday instructed the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) to deposit the land lease charges with the Bangladesh Bank and send copies of the respective receipts to its office.
The project comprises the construction of four terminals on around 2,500 acres of land.
Once complete, larger vessels with a draft of up to 12 metres and a length of 280 metres will be able to berth at the country's premier seaport.
The CPA is set to receive a total of 500.72 acres of government-owned fallow land located in the South Kattoli and Halishahar areas of the port city at a token price of Tk 3 crore.
The district administration earlier fixed the price for the total required land at more than Tk 1,200 crore.
A few years ago, the CPA applied for the settlement of the khas land at a token price or free of cost and the land ministry in February this year approved the allocation at the token price.
Terming the move as a step towards expediting the mega expansion project, CPA Secretary Md Omar Faruk said that once the money is deposited, the land will be handed over and they may proceed with construction.
Administrative approval had been granted for the acquisition of 870 acres of land for the project.
Out of the 870 acres, 66.85 acres of land was privately owned. In September 2018, the CPA acquired the privately owned 66.85 acres by paying Tk 352.62 crore as compensation.
However, decisions over the remaining 803 acres had remained pending for the past six years. The 500 acres that will be handed over will cover a large portion of that.
Regarding the rest of the land, Faruk said the process of allocating over 120 acres belonging to the Forest Department under the land ministry is in its final stage as well.
The proposal for acquiring the rest 188 acres of land claimed by different individuals has also been sent to the district administration, he added.
The remaining 1,620 acres necessary for the project will be reclaimed from the sea.
The authority is hopeful to get around $8 billion as foreign direct investment to construct the project.
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