CHATTOGRAM, Jan 01: Construction work on Matarbari Deep Seaport is going on in full gear and the port's main two terminals will be fully operational within less than three years, officials involved with design and implementation of the project said.
Although a jetty to unload from ships goods and equipment, especially imported coal for Matarbari coal-fired power plant, became operation over a year ago, construction works on the port's two main terminals will end within 2026, an official involved with implementation of the project said.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) in 2020 took up the Tk 177.75 billion (Tk 17,775 crore) project to construct the two-terminal deep seaport, first of its kind in Bangladesh, at Matarbari under Maheshkhali Upazila in Cox's Bazar on 70 hectares of land. After clearing by the Cabinet, construction work on the project started on November 16, 2020. The Matarbari deep seaport was originally planned to unload and load coal and equipment for Matarbari coal-run power stations. Later the government decided to turn it into a deep sea port.
On December 29, 2020, Panamanian flag carrier MV Venus Triumph, a 120-metre-long general cargo ship, became the first foreign vessel to dock at the then newly-constructed jetty of the deep seaport to unload imported goods for the power plant. After that many foreign ships unloaded goods at the jetty built for the power plant.
An official said the deep seaport hosted the 100th ship when another Panama registered vessel 'MV Hosei Fortune' docked at the jetty on August 24, to unload imported goods for the Coal Power Generation Company Bangladesh Limited and the CPA.
He said as per the original plan, the port's channel was supposed to be 3-km long, 250 metres wide and 15 metres deep. Later the scheme was changed and the deep seaport will be expanded and is now designed to reduce pressure on Chittagong Port, the prime seaport in the country, he added.
When contacted. CPA Chairman Rear Admiral M Shahjahan stated that during the first stage of construction, one 300-metre-long multipurpose terminal and one 460-metre container terminal will be completed. After going into full operation, the port will host larger ships or mother vessels through its 16-draught channel, he said.
Once expanded fully, the port will be able to host even the largest mother vessels currently navigating through the Bay and the sea, he mentioned.
"Ships loaded with 8,000 to 10,000 TEUs can berth at the port. Primarily, the port is designed to handle around 0.8 million TEUs containers annually while its container handling capacity will be increased in future," he further said, adding the Matarbari port will be the most important regional hub of export and import and connectivity in this region.
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