UAE wants to sign MoU for deep-seaport construction

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) wants to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) immediately to further construction of a deep-seaport in Sonadia on government to government (G-to-G) initiative, sources said.
The Gulf state earlier expressed its interest to invest in the project as well as in some other ports in Bangladesh.
The UAE is also interested to discuss and finalise detailed terms and conditions of the agreements within 60 days of signing the MoU to start implementation of the projects by January 2014.
The Arab country wants to carry out the task through DP World Ltd, a flagship government organisation, having experience of developing, operating and maintaining large ports globally.
DP World will soon make a presentation on its investment plan before a 10-member high-powered committee, headed by the principal secretary to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
General strikes, called by the opposition political parties, earlier pushed the company to defer the presentation schedule from October 29.
The UAE submitted a formal proposal in last November, expressing its interest to invest in Bangladesh's port sector on G-to-G basis.
In February this year the government formed the high-powered committee to examine the UAE's proposal and take decision regarding the proposals of other interested countries and development partners relating to deep-seaport construction.
According to the proposal, DP World is interest to invest in deep-seaport in Cox's Bazar, New Mooring Container Terminal (NMCT), and Inland Container Deport (ICD) with rail connectivity in Gazipur.
The organisation wants to operate NMCT alongside constructing the deep-seaport and the ICD either on joint venture or on built-operation-transfer (BOT) basis.
It said it will construct the deep-seaport when Bangladesh's container volume will reach 3.0 million TEUs (twenty feet equivalent units) from existing 1.5 million TEUs.
DP World said it wants to commence a detailed feasibility study and re-conceptualise the deep-seaport project in line with increasing vessel size and demand.
Other than the UAE several countries including China, Germany, and the Netherlands also expressed interest to invest in construction of the deep-seaport.
China first expressed its interest to help Bangladesh in the deep-seaport construction. Besides, a delegation of the Netherlands has also made presentation before the committee and wanted to engage its private sector companies for the proposed port.
The government has decided to form a consortium to fund construction of the port at Sonadia by engaging more than one investor for the project.
In 2006, a 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 of handling a total of 704.01 million tonnes of containers a year. The cost was then estimated at Tk 600 billion.
Officials said Bangladesh's ports have become very important for South Asian regional connectivity. So, many countries are interested to invest here for good and quick return.
The country's two seaports - Chittagong and Mongla - are likely to see a good rise in container handling, once neighbouring India is granted transit and transhipment facilities for carrying cargoes to its 'Seven Sisters' 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 facilitating their external trade.