Cabinet to decide next course of action on Bay Terminal project

A decision on the next course of action centring the Bay Terminal project of the Chattogram port will be taken following a cabinet discussion.

Adviser to the shipping ministry Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain informed this at a discussion on the project involving high-level officials at the ministry yesterday afternoon.

The shipping adviser chaired the meeting, which was attended by senior officials of different government authorities and representatives of development partners.

Sources attending the meeting said the CPA officials had provided a detailed presentation on the project, focusing on its importance and necessity for accommodating large vessels alongside the progress in its implementation.

Representatives of the World Bank and two global port operators, PSA Singapore and DP World, attended the meeting and gave their reassurance over investing in the project, they said.

Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Secretary Md Omar Faruk said representatives of all the stakeholders underscored the requirement and importance of the project.

He said the shipping ministry adviser informed that since there was a new interim government in office, the cabinet would hold a discussion on the project and decide on the next course of action.

The World Bank has already approved $650 million for the construction of a breakwater and for navigation channel dredging for the proposed terminal. However, an agreement is yet to be signed in this regard.

The previous Awami League government was in talks with PSA Singapore and DP World of the United Arab Emirates.

Both firms had offered to invest $1.5 billion each to construct two container terminals under the project based on a private-public partnership model.

A "development project proposal" was sent to the planning ministry prior to the fall of the previous regime last August, and since then the project has seen no progress.