The UAE-based firm DP World presented its multi-billion-dollar investment plan before the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister on Wednesday for building a deep-sea port in Bangladesh.
The firm, as the reports say, has proposed to invest nearly US$3.0 to $4.0 billion funds for setting up the proposed deep-sea port of Bangladesh. Besides, the Arab Gulf nation has reportedly shown considerable interest to invest in the other large infrastructure projects of Bangladesh.
Earlier, the Netherlands government-owned company -- Rotterdam Port -- and the Chinese company -- China Harbour -- had given offers to Bangladesh for building the proposed deep-sea port in the Bay of Bengal.
Bangladesh, an emerging economy with an annual trade of around US$60.0 billion, conducted a feasibility study to construct a deep-sea port at Sonadia to help develop the country as a regional transportation hub.
Indeed, over 90 per cent of Bangladesh's overseas trade is now dependent on the Chittagong Port, which handled over 1.1 million containers of twenty-feet equivalent unit last year. The proposed deep-sea port project will cost nearly $8.0 billion. It will, as the findings of a preliminary survey suggest, help cater to demands of north-eastern India, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and the south-western Chinese province of Yunnan.
DP World, founded with merger of the Dubai Ports Authority and the Dubai Ports International, operates more than 60 terminals across six continents, with container handling generating around 80 per cent of its revenue earnings. It has expansion and development projects in key growth markets, including India, China and the Middle East.
On its part, the government of Bangladesh (GoB) has been looking for an international consortium, instead of a single-country source, to award the construction works of the proposed deep-sea port. Such a decision has been taken so that the government does not rely only on a single country.
However, the deep-sea port has been identified as one of the six fast-track projects. But resource constraints have held back its construction. The country needs a deep-sea port as its existing sea port in Chittagong is not capable of handling bigger vessels against the backdrop of growing incoming and outgoing containers worth about US$ 60 billion, in value terms of cargo, annually. The Bay of Bengal has already emerged as an economically strategic geo-political location between China and India.
China, to recall, invested US$ 500 million to operationalise the Colombo International Container Terminal in Sri Lanka in 2013 and helped build a new US$ 450 million deep-sea port at the southern Lankan city of Hambantota in 2012. Last year also, China took control of Pakistan's Gwadar Port. China's dominance over the world's busiest international shipping lane, has worried India.
The GoB wanted to make the country a regional hub through the establishment of the port and cater to the needs of its neighbouring economies. It considers that a consortium-based financing is more feasible to achieve the target. In its recommendations, the committee noted that the construction work of the proposed deep-sea port should not be given to any single country.
Since Bangladesh has limited resources, it needs to focus on specific countries including China. Also, the demand for the Bangladeshi products should be raised globally through productive investment on big infrastructural projects like that of a deep-sea port. There is a big opportunity for Bangladesh to reap benefit by involving China in its economy. China had long been trying to connect its upcoming growth-oriented provinces with the closest sea routes. Sea ports in Chittagong could serve as a better option for them.
None of the deep-sea port sites in the Bay of Bengal other than Sonadia, as the experts are reported to have said, has the potential to serve the broader hinterland region as was mentioned earlier. The geographic location of Bangladesh could offer real opportunities to play a major role in regional sea-borne trade and act as a gateway for this region to the rest of the world by providing shortest land connectivity route to the deepest water, saving thousands of kilometres' transport costs and time.
At present, every parcel of cargo from Kunming in China has to travel about 1,800 km on land to the east to reach the nearest sea port in the China Sea from where it is transported by ships bound for the markets in Europe, traversing a sea distance of 18,300 km. In the future, the same parcel may reach Sonadia, when it is established, travelling only 1,000 km to the west and then may be transported to Europe traversing a sea distance of 15,100 km with a total net savings of 4,000 km. The same applies to every parcel to, and from, the seven north-eastern states or 'seven sisters' of India.
The volume of traffic and revenue earnings of the deep-sea port, upon the completion of the proposed project and its operationalisation, coupled with political understanding with the neighbours, will have a direct link with development activities of the 'seven-sisters' of India and the south western region of China. It may be reasonable to expect that with a functional deep-sea port in Sonadia, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Bangladesh will be raised to a higher level.
In this background, quite a number of countries, in response to the government's recent invitation to build the proposed deep-sea port, have expressed their interest to participate in its construction. So far China, Japan, India, the UAE and the US have shown interest in building it. But the government is in a quandary over who to pick as its relations with all five are strategically and economically important. Realising the dilemma facing the GoB, China has even offered to remain open to building the deep-sea port in partnership with other countries.
As such, a decision to build the port does need to be taken in right time. There is no doubt about the potential and the opportunity surrounding the proposed port. Even the two major political parties of the country are surprisingly of identical views on this particular project for setting up a deep-sea port. Both parties included it in their election manifestoes in 2007. The Nobel Laureate, Dr Muhammad Yunus, has also emphasised the importance of establishing the proposed deep-sea port in Sonadia.
Bangladesh is, no doubt, a natural disaster-prone country with limited natural resources to support an enormous population. The Sonadia site, with suitable parameters to establish a deep-sea port, presents a unique opportunity to ensure a better living for the people of this land. The government has to act now expeditiously and sensibly with a clear vision in a transparent way to firm up things for construction of the proposed deep-sea port at the earliest opportunity.
szkhan@dhaka.net
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