Dutch govt looks into business potential of BD deep-sea port

Experts from the Netherlands government are examining business prospects for the proposed deep-sea port's construction in the country, sources said. It is set to be built at Sonadia in Cox's Bazar.
The Netherlands government has already expressed its keen interest to invest in the port by engaging its private sector companies. Recently, the embassy of the Netherlands also made presentation to a high-powered 10-member committee, headed by the principal secretary to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
A senior ministry of shipping (MoS) official told the FE that Japanese firm Pacific Consultant International (PCI) had conducted a feasibility study for construction of the proposed deep-sea port in 2006.
But before making any investment decision, the Dutch government was now making a 'quick scan' of the feasibility study report to ascertain the business prospects for the port.
Sources said the Netherlands embassy in Dhaka also wanted to host a technical tour of 2/3 officials of the government of Bangladesh in February next to show them the port of Rotterdam, and the Maasvlakte-II, a major civil engineering project in the Netherlands.
During the visit, the government officials will have meetings with Rotterdam port consultants to discuss the deep-sea port business development.
The Dutch government will also organise a workshop in Dhaka involving the experts in the framework of the 'quick scan' for the Bangladesh government officials in March next.
Officials said the government has planned the formation of a consortium to fund construction of the deep-sea port instead of depending on one single funding source.
They said at first the Dutch government had expressed interest to invest in the port as a single country. But as the Bangladesh government planned to form a consortium for the port's funding, the Dutch government also showed interest to join it.
Apart from the Netherlands, countries including China, Germany, India, Denmark, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) also expressed interest to invest in construction of the port.
Officials said Bangladesh's ports have become very important for connectivity in the South Asian region; that is why many are interested to invest here for handsome and quick returns.
The country's two seaports - Chittagong and Mongla - are likely to see an impressive rise in container handling once neighbouring India is granted transit and transshipment facility for carrying cargoes to its 'seven-sister' states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura.
Alongside India, other countries like Nepal and Bhutan are also interested to enjoy the similar facility for expediting their external trade.
According to the feasibility study report, carried out by the PCI, 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 construction cost was estimated at Tk 600 billion.