China seeks to know about BD position on its assistance offer

Syful Islam China has sought to know about Bangladesh's position regarding construction of a deep-sea port at Sonadia in Cox's Bazar with Beijing's assistance, officials said Monday. "The Chinese state-run company involved in the process sent us a reminder last week seeking to know if there was any development on our part regarding their proposal of assisting us to construct the proposed deep-sea port," Shipping Secretary Abdul Mannan Howlader told the FE. "But we have to consult the issue at the highest level of the government to take a decision in this connection," he said. The China Merchants Holdings International Company Ltd (CMHI) sent a draft of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in June this year as part of the decision taken at a meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) on May 30 in Dhaka. In the draft of the MoU, the company sought one year's time to carry out geographical, administrative and diplomatic assessment of the proposed deep-sea port. During the period they will examine both financial and business models of the proposed port to assess its viability. The CMHI officials informed the MoS officials that if the assessment result was found positive, they would sit for negotiations on the possible funding arrangement for the port. Earlier, Bangladesh sought Chinese funding for construction of the deep-sea port during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's last year's visit to China. The Chinese authorities responded positively at that time but the issue has not seen much progress so far. Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Zhang Xianyi in September this year said that his country was ready to help Bangladesh set up the deep-sea port. However, the government is yet to take any concrete decision in this connection. In September this year the cabinet committee on economic affairs has sent back for further scrutiny a MoS proposal regarding construction of the deep-sea port under public-private partnership (PPP) initiative. A senior official of the MoS told the FE Monday that construction of the seaport with Chinese or local funding was a part of the public-private partnership (PPP) bid. "Unless the cabinet gives nod to move further for construction of the port under the PPP arrangement, we can't give any green signal to the Chinese company," he added. He also said the government was going to form a deep-sea port authority, for which a draft law would soon be sent for cabinet approval. "Until the authority is formed and the highest level of the government gives green signal, the proposed deep-sea port won't see any progress," the official said preferring not to be named. Earlier in September, two key ministries offered their no-objection to signing of the MoU with the Chinese state-owned company regarding construction of a deep-sea port. Months back, the MoS had sought the ministries' opinion about the draft MoU sent by the CMHI whether to move forward, in line with the terms and conditions of the MoU. The Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the Ministry of Finance gave the no-objection on September 7 to the draft MoU without any change of the terms and conditions, while the Ministry of Law insisted on a minor change. In 2006, Japanese firm Pacific Consultant International (PCI) first conducted a feasibility study for the proposed seaport. The seaport at the first stage will have five international-standard jetties with the capacity to handle a total of 704.01 million tonnes of containers a year. The cost was then estimated at Tk 600 billion. The CMHI is the largest port operator in China and is operating five key port clusters in the mainland China. It has stakes in ports in Nigeria, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka. The worsening congestion at Chittagong Port is the main reason for which the government has opted for building a deep-sea port at Sonadia. Bangladesh has planned to make Sonadia a major regional shipping hub, catering to the demands of north-eastern India, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.