State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury hoped for a part of the Chattogram port’s Bay Terminal to become operational from early 2026 while the Matarbari deep-sea port either from the middle or end of that year (2026).
He also hoped for the Chattogram port’s Patenga Container Terminal to be operational very soon as around 97% of its construction was complete.
He was addressing as chief guest a ceremony marking the first time a Chattogram port jetty has been able to accommodate a 200-meter vessel with a 10-meter draught.
The vessel, MV Common Atlas, berthed at jetty no 1 of Chittagong Container Terminal (CCT) on Sunday afternoon.
Addressing as a guest, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam requested that the state minister informs about the progress attained in the three ongoing projects.
Referring to his request, the state minister said he had earlier announced that the Bay Terminal would become operational by 2024.
“Unfortunately, within a year of our government coming to power in 2019, the global pandemic started and the first two years were lost from our lives. And then another global disaster of Russia-Ukraine war has appeared,” he said.
“But I want to say that we are not sitting idle, rather we are progressing with our capacity,” he said.
The government had initially decided to construct the 3,500-metre-long Bay Terminal under a public-private partnership, said Chowdhury.
British High Commissioner Robert Chatterton Dickson, Shipping Secretary Md Mostafa Kamal, Dr Manzur Haque, executive chairman of Interport BD, the local agent of HR Wallingford; and Bangladesh Shipping Agents Association Chairman Syed Mohammad Arif also spoke at the ceremony chaired by CPA Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Shahjahan.
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