Tk 20b project taken up to modernise Mongla port

Mongla seaport is being modernised under a Tk 20 billion (2,000 crore) project to turn it into Bangladesh's second shipping hub to handle an increased volume of domestic and transit cargoes.
Officials said the Mongla Port Authority (MPA) has taken up the project as the seaport would have to take greater load of import-export consignments once investment thrives in greater Khulna region in the near future.
Also, the port has to handle transit trade of the region's landlocked countries under the deals struck recently.       
Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) got the task of conducting feasibility study on the port's capacity building under the mega-project.
The government will explore funds from both the Chinese government and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for the works.
The project is scheduled to start in the current fiscal year, 2015-16, and expected to be completed in four years.
MPA chairman Riazuddin Ahmed told the FE that connectivity is a major barrier for investment in Khulna region and thus the Mongla port has been handling lower volume of cargo.
"But the problem is now going to be over with Padma bridge construction and the project taken for rail connectivity between Khulna and Mongla port," he said.
Mr Ahmed said investment is going to see a big boom surrounding Mongla soon as BEZA (Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority) and Mongla Export Processing Zone have been extending facilities to investors here. These two organisations took lands for establishments from the Mongla port.   
He also said apart from these two special zones, businessmen are also making large investments surrounding the port on the bank of Poshur River. Besides, he said, the Rampal coal-fired power plant will bring a big volume of trade for the port.
"Unless we expand the facilities of the port now, we won't be able to handle such big load once the investments take place with smooth connectivity facility with the capital," Mr Ahmed said.
He also noted that the Dhaka-Chittagong highway always witness large volume of traffic and so traders will prefer Mongla port for handling their export-import cargos once the Padma Bridge is built.
The chairman said the port, which was built in the 1950s, is not properly designed for container handling.
It has five old jetties for handling bulk and general cargoes. Construction of two jetties with local-foreign consortium will be started soon under public-private partnership to substantially enhance its container-handling capacity.
A separate container terminal will also be built to handle the load of container smoothly.
Last year the port saw 29 per cent growth in break-bulk cargo handling, up from average 10 to 12 per cent in the past, he pointed out.
Documents show that under the mega-project, a container terminal will be built at a cost of Tk 7.44 billion, construction of a container delivery yard will cost Tk 3.190 billion, and a multi-storage car-parking yard will cost Tk 7.280 billion.
"A large number of reconditioned vehicles are imported through the port, which are now kept in a scattered way. The multi-storage car-park will help remove the problem," said the chairman.
 "The project is big in size but a requirement of the time," he said. The project document states that implementation of the project will increase the economic activities of the port and bring about positive impact on the enhancement of cargo handling, income generation for the workforce and port-users.
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