Govt orders start of deep sea port study

Dhaka: The government has asked the consulting firm, hired for conducting a feasibility study for setting up a deep sea port in the country, to revive the project and begin the second phase of the study.

The interim government had earlier suspended the feasibility study of the deep sea port project by the Pacific Consultants International while its study was halfway in July because of the huge investment and time required for the construction of a deep-sea port.

The council of advisers’ committee on economic affairs in November decided to revive the project and resolved that Pacific Consultants, a Japanese firm, should be allowed to carry out its study on the planned deep sea port in the Bay of Bengal.
Officials of the shipping ministry said that in line with the economic affairs committee’s decision, the ministry in December sent two letters to Pacific Consultants, asking it to begin the second phase of the study as soon as possible.
Sonadia Island in the bay has been selected as the best site for the port, so the study will focus on it.

The Japanese firm was appointed by the government in 2006 as consultants for the study at a cost of Tk 13 crore. About Tk 5 crore of the amount has already been spent in the first phase. The second phase of the study will determine the economic feasibility of such a mega-port.

The shipping ministry’s officials, however, said the consulting firm has neither replied to the letters sent on December 12 and 30 nor informed the government about when it will resume the study.
‘We are waiting for Pacific Consultants to reply,’ said an official of the shipping ministry.

The BNP-Jamaat government in 2005 initiated the process to build the deep-sea port to ease the growing pressure on Chittagong Port in handling the increasing number of cargoes. The consulting firm completed the first phase of the techno-economic feasibility study, suggesting three possible sites and estimating that an investment of Tk 42,000 crore will be needed for the project which will be carried out in three phases until 2055.

In May 2007 a technical committee, formed by the government, recommended Sonadia Island as the best site for the proposed deep sea port.

It selected Sonadia as the most suitable site after considering many factors such as quality of land, distance from the sea, exposure to earthquake and seaquake, environmental aspects and access to utility services and road networks.

But the interim government shelved the plan on July 30, considering the huge investment and long time involved to be excessive.

Later in September, the economic affairs committee of the interim cabinet asked the shipping ministry to determine the economic loss for the government if the contract with the consulting firm was scrapped.

The ministry made it clear that the government would have to pay the entire sum of money that was agreed on, no matter whether the study was carried out or not.

The shipping ministry’s officials believe that the planned deep-sea port will help Bangladesh to become a regional hub for the sea cargo business.