Construction of the country's third seaport at Paira may cost the exchequer US$20 billion (more than Tk 156 billion), according to a draft feasibility study conducted by a British farm.
Of the amount, some $3.5 billion will be needed for capital dredging to make the port channel navigable, officials said.
Besides, each year some $350 million will be needed for the maintenance dredging of the channel.
For other components including connectivity of the port towards Dhaka through waterways and railways and building jetties and buying equipment, some $16 billion will be required.
British consultancy company Wallingford has conducted the feasibility study which is expected to be submitted to the government in the third week of this month.
Sources said in the draft of the report the farm has opined that despite large volume of investment, the port would be financially viable considering the volume of cargo the port would handle.
The Paira Port Authority (PPA) will hold a workshop in mid-December and take opinion from the stakeholders on the draft feasibility study report before finalising and making it public.
Officials said after getting the feasibility report, Bangladesh will share it with India which recently expressed interest to help build the proposed port under government-to-government (G-to-G) basis.
During the Indo-Bangladesh shipping secretary-level meeting last week in New Delhi, India requested Bangladesh to share the feasibility report which will help it take a decision for making investment.
Sources said India has deputed a technical team to study preliminary feasibility of the proposed port. It employed the team to assess volume of capital and maintenance dredging to be needed for development of an approach channel of the port.
The Indian officials have also expressed interest to hold discussion on modalities for mutual construction of the port based on outcome of the feasibility report.
Apart from India, countries like China, the Netherlands, and Denmark also have expressed their interest to be involved in the construction of the port.
Some officials at the shipping ministry have expressed the doubt about the necessity and prospect of the proposed port since the country's prime seaport Chittagong is raising its capacity while Mongla port's capacity remains heavily under-utilised and another deep seaport in Matarbari or Sonadia is planned to be built.
"The area selected for Paira is not suitable for a deep seaport. Substantial amount of money will have to be spent for dredging of the area. Some foreign companies have already expressed doubt about its prospect," a senior official said.
He said connectivity between proposed Paira port and capital Dhaka through waterways will also be difficult since the depth of water is very low. Carrying goods by roads will also be a costlier option, he added.
Another senior MoS official said the Paira port is the government's priority project and thus the high-ups have listed it as one of the fast-track projects to expedite its construction. It is also an election pledge of the government.
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