CHITTAGONG, Mar 5: Shipping Minister M Shajahan Khan said the country is progressing fast under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the ship building industry is contributing a lot to the national economy.
He was speaking as the chief guest while inaugurating keel laying of three ships and delivery of 18 pontoons at the FMC Dockyard at Boalkhali on the bank of the Karnaphuli river in Chittagong today.
The FMC Shipyard got order from BIWTA (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority) for construction of a 49.51-metre Special Inspection Multipurpose Survey Vessel, the first of its kind in Bangladesh, and 53 buoys and navigational aids and 500 passenger-capacity Coastal Passenger Vessel for BIWTC (Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation).
The Special Inspection Multipurpose Survey Vessel will be delivered to the BIWTA in May 2017 while the Coastal Passenger Vessel will be delivered to the BIWTC in July 2017.
The shipping minister said some 22 dredgers will be procured under open procurement method (OPM) instead of direct procurement method (DPM) at a cost of Tk 22 billion. As per former method, the dredgers were supposed to be supplied by the Bangladesh Navy but now these orders have been placed with the ship builders of the country through tender.
Presided over by chairman and CEO of the FMC Dockyard Md Yasin Chowdhury the function was also addressed as the special guest by Mayor of Chittagong City Corporation AJM Nasir Uddin, acting secretary of the Shipping Ministry Ashok Madhab Roy, BIWTA chairman Commodore M Mozammel Huq, BIWTC chairman Md Mizanur Rahman, acting chairman of Chittagong Port Authority Commodore Zulfiquer Hyder, chairman of Mongla Port Authority Rear Admiral Reaz Uddin Ahmed, principal officer of Mercantile Marine Department (MMD) Shafiqul Islam and managing director of the FMC Dockyard Khatun-e-Zannat.
The minister said the shipping sector of the country was in a very bad shape before the government of Sheikh Hasina came to power in 2009. The shipping sector was running with old ships procured 28 years back. But the government has brought about massive change in the sector.
He said seven dredgers have been bought and 20 others are under construction. Besides, the government has procured three excavator ships, 10 ferries, two passenger ships and rescue ships for salvage of launches at the special initiative of the Prime Minister.
Chittagong Port has improved a lot and will handle a record volume of two million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) containers in the year 2016. It has already crossed its target of container handling in 2015.
On the other hand, Mongla Port has made operational profit of Tk 700 million in 2015 and Tk 600 million in 2014 although it had been incurring financial losses since its journey in 1949, he said.
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