India wants to build deep-sea port at Paira

India moves to form a consortium with Bangladesh for developing the long-cherished deep-sea port in the Bay of Bengal, and a deal is likely during the Indian premier's visit.
The latest move by the Indian side is learnt to have come on Modi's business-crammed visit agenda as one of priority dos.
The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is scheduled to come on June 06 for his maiden Bangladesh tour.
Bangladesh has been trying to build a deep-sea port for the last few years to cope with its growing pace of cargo movement as the country's port usage is growing 12 per cent a year.
Building a regional shipping hub for transit trade through the bay is also a part of this government's plan.      
After an arduous site-selection exercise, Paira in the southern coastal district of Patuakhali has finally been chosen as the place for building the deep-sea port.
Officials in Dhaka said an Indian team concerned is likely to visit Bangladesh with Prime Minister Modi as part of his entourage to discuss the deal.
"This is an important agendum and, hopefully, the signing of an MoU may take place," an official at the South Asia wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the FE.
The technical committee of the Paira Sea Port has estimated the port's construction cost at around Tk 250 billion, including the construction of an about 34-kilometre-long link road.
The entire project will take five to seven years to complete.
The third seaport of the country will be built on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis.
However, officials at the Paira Port Authority told the FE that they do not know about the matter.
Captain Saidur Rahman, member of the Paira Port Authority, said: "I'm not aware of the matter. This is probably still a policy-level development."
But he said a feasibility study on the Paira Deep Sea Port is now going on.
HR Wallingford, a British water and shipping consultancy firm, is conducting a survey on the proposed deep-sea port in southern Bangladesh.
The survey, which costs Tk 180.36 million, may finish sometime next October.
The construction of the port's infrastructure is already underway along with the preparation of a conceptual master plan simultaneously being done by the British consulting firm.
The conceptual master plan will make a vital contribution to assessing environmental and economic feasibility besides planning on the main works of the port, channel design, as well as the building of jetty and terminal.
Earlier, firms from China, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands also had shown their keen interest in developing the deep-sea port.
If India gets the big venture on port building finally, it will be one of major business interests of the neighbouring country in Bangladesh. Delhi also eyes two exclusive economic zones, and initial deals are also likely in this regard during the Modi mission.             
Final formalities on the Bangladesh-India Land Boundary Agreement will be done during the tour, apart from talks on the long-overdue Teesta water-sharing treaty.        
    jasimharoon@yahoo.com