Saudi firm in soon, foreigners to operate more terminals

Deal with Saudi company Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) is expected shortly to run the newly built Patenga Container Terminal (PCT) and more porting facilities in Bangladesh are up for foreign operators, sources say.
Meanwhile, negotiations on the agreement between Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and the Jeddah-based firm are all over to pave the way for signing the proposed deal.
"We have concluded our negotiations. After completion of all formalities we sent the documents to the shipping ministry for government approval," CPA chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail told the FE.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to inaugurate the terminal Tuesday. The deal between the port authority and the Saudi company, RSGT, is expected to be signed thereafter.
This is the first Bangladeshi port terminal to be operated by a foreign entity. The government plans to award several more such establishments to globally renowned port operators to bring competition and international-standard services.
PSA Singapore, DP World, UAE, and Danish shipping and logistics giant Maersk Line are in close discussion with the government to build and operate port terminals in Bangladesh.
Appointment of foreign operators will also break long-lasting monopoly created in port operation in Bangladesh by a local company, stakeholders say in implicit reference to odds associated with such lack of competition.
Mr Sohail said the PCT would be run under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) system.
In this regard, he said, approval from the cabinet committee on economic affairs, headed by Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, is needed since the operator will be appointed under direct-purchase method.
Shipping Secretary Mostafa Kamal told the FE Thursday that the negotiations had been finalised and the Prime Minister would now inaugurate the terminal.
"The deal will be signed once the procedure completes," he said.
After building the terminal by spending some Tk 20.75 billion, the Chittagong Port Authority had appointed the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group as transaction adviser to conduct negotiations with RSGT.
The 600-metre-long container terminal was constructed by Bangladesh Army on 32 acres of land with an annual capacity of handling 450,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) of export-import containers.
It will be able to accommodate three vessels, up to 10.5-metre-water draft having 190-metre length, and a 220-metre-long oil tanker at a time.
Vessels up to the size of 4,500 TEUs can berth in the new terminal compared to the highest 2,500-TEU-capacity ships that presently can dock at other terminals of the Chittagong seaport.
The Saudi firm, RSGT, will bring modern equipment and operate the terminal for a period of 25 years and then hand over to the Chittagong Port Authority.

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