Ashuganj river port
Construction of Ashuganj transit-point inland container terminal (ICT) faces recurrent delay due to dispute over land, officials said.
The department of food and Bangladesh railway now do not want to provide the patches of land they own which had been primarily selected for construction of the terminal, they added.
The dispute has arisen as Bangladesh railway is building a second Bhairab bridge and the department of food is constructing a silo with World Bank funding at those places.
Officials said some 30 acres of land will be needed to build the ICT. On the proposed site there are 4.50 acres of land owned by food department, 3.85 acres of Bangladesh Railway and 3.19 acres of Ashuganj Fertiliser Chemical Company Ltd. The rest 19.31 acres of land is privately owned.
A technical team headed by additional secretary of the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) Rafiqul Islam visited last week the proposed ICT site to identify two alternatives to build the terminal. The team is expected to submit a report next week.
Mr Islam told the FE Tuesday the committee was working to select alternative sites for construction of the terminal.
"We have visited the sites and are finalising a report for submission. Hopefully the problem will be over," he said, without elaborating.
Aimed at facilitating sub-regional trade alongside industrialisation in Narsingdi, Kishoreganj, Mymensingh, Brahmanbaria, Comilla and greater Sylhet districts, the ICT will be built with the agreed Indian Line of Credit.
It will also make easier movement of containers through the plying of inland container vessels which will encourage establishment of new industrial units.
Earlier in February 2013, Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) asked the deputy commissioner (DC) of Brahmanbaria to start acquiring the privately owned lands so that the project could be implemented in time.
The DC sought Tk 1.60 billion to acquire the private lands. However, the land acquisition cannot be started as a revised development project proposal (RDPP) has not been approved and the money not disbursed.
BIWTA chairman Mozammel Haque told the FE Tuesday the delay in starting port construction is occurring due to dispute over land.
"Decision will be taken after the technical committee submits report as members have visited the proposed site area," he said.
Mr Haque said the Brahmanbaria district administration has been asked to make reassessment of local land prices and submit report again seeking requisite funds for acquiring the private lands.
Earlier in October 2012, an Indian delegation also visited the proposed site. In 2013 Indian public-sector entity M/s WAPCOS conducted a feasibility study on construction of the terminal.
Bangladesh and India agreed to construct the ICT at Ashuganj during then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Dhaka visit in September 2011.
India is eager for quick construction of the container port to facilitate transportation of goods to Agartala, the capital of north-eastern Indian state of Tripura, which is only 50 kilometres off Ashuganj.
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