An infrastructural marvel taping shape

The interim government has attached much importance to the Matarbari deep-sea port project of the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) as the port will add an impetus to trade activity. With construction of the country's first deep-sea port, Bangladesh will undergo economic transformation with better trade connectivity with the rest of the world.
The government is constructing the deep-sea port at Matarbari Island, Maheshkhali, in Cox's Bazar district. Traditionally, this district is well-known for tourism. After this port is built, Cox's Bazar will also be famous for its state-of-the-art shipping facilities. It will open the door to new possibilities in the country's maritime economy. This is due to the fact that large ships will then be able to transport large quantities of goods at one go from the deep-sea port. As a result, it will take less time and reduce the cost of goods transport.
The existing two seaports at Chattogram and Mongla are not deep-sea ports. As a result, deep-draft ships cannot enter the jetties of these ports. To ensure the jetty facility for deep-draft vessels, the 'Matarbari Port Development' project has been adopted as a priority one. At the same time, it has been included in the fast-track projects of the government. The deep-sea port at Matarbari will allow berthing of ships with 16 metres of draft whereas the existing two seaports can only accommodate ships with a nine-metre draft.
The construction work on the deep-sea port in the first phase began on November 16 2020. This phase of the project includes construction of a 460-metre container jetty, a 300-metre multipurpose jetty and dredging a 14.3-km channel. The depth of the channel will be 16 metres and the width will be 350 metres. Apart from this, the Chittagong Port Authority will extend the North Breakwater dam by 397 metres and procure two key-gantry cranes, one multipurpose gantry crane, six rubber-tyred gantry cranes and three tugboats.
The Matarbari port will have well-planned connectivity of road, rail and river. So import and export products will reach their destinations easily and at a low cost. The port will facilitate import of coal, liquefied natural gas (LNG), crude oil and oil-like products, cement, clinker, fertilizer, food, steel, scrap iron, etc.
The CPA undertook the port project with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Ministry of Shipping with the total outlay at Tk 177.77 billion (17,777 crore). Out of this, JICA's loan amounted to Tk 128.92 billion (12,892 crore), the government of Bangladesh allocated Tk 26.71 billion (2,671 crore) and the CPA provided Tk 22.13 billion from its own fund. For implementation of the project, the Cox's Bazar district administration provided the CPA with 283.27 acres of land.
Meanwhile, the expenditure on dredging the channel of the deep-sea port has increased by Tk 65.73 billion (6,573.96 crore). The interim government in the meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) on October 7 last enhanced the cost by 37 per cent and also extended the project period by three years. In view of the importance of the project the 2nd revised cost was approved in the 3rd ECNEC meeting of the current fiscal year with Chief Adviser Professor Dr Muhammad Yunus in the chair.
According to sources in the CPA, the spending on the deep-sea port project was initially estimated at Tk 177 billion during the past Awami League (AL) regime which was ousted on August 5 last through mass uprising. In the first review the cost of the project was slightly increased to Tk 178 billion. The project cost in the second review was raised to Tk 243.81 billion.
The project was scheduled to end by December 2026. However, the project period of the country's first deep-sea port has been extended by three years to December in 2029.
Earlier, the deep-sea port channel was handed over to the CPA on September 20 in 2023. The state-owned Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited (CPGCBL) handed over the responsibility of the port channel to the CPA at a programme in Chattogram. So, maintenance and complete control of the channel will be the responsibility of the CPA. Besides, port dues and berth hire charges, piloting, tug charges, berthing and other charges will be collected by the CPA.
New Chairman of CPA Rear Admiral SM Moniruzzaman said, "The work on the dream project at Matarbari in Cox's Bazar is going on in full swing now. We have already taken steps for acquiring land for second phase of the port."
The port was initially built for the Matarbari coal-fired power plant. Then the government decided to turn it into a deep-sea port. The CPA signed an agreement with Nippon Koei Company on September 23, 2020. Formally they started their work on November 16, 2020.
The deep-sea port is planned to reduce pressure on the Chittagong Port. In the first phase, one 300-metre multipurpose terminal and one 460-metre container terminal were planned to be constructed by 2026. The deadline has now been extended to 2029. The navigation channel will be 350 metres long with a maximum permissible ship draft of 16 metres. Ships with the capacity of carrying 8,000 TEUs of containers will be able to berth at the port. The container terminal will be built on 18 hectares and have an annual storage capacity of 600,000 to 1.1 million TEUs. Later, the container terminal will be expanded up to 70 hectares.

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