Paira port\\\'s partial operation by Dec

Talha Bin Habib | Published: May 16, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

The Paira Port Authority (PPA) has taken initiative for building necessary infrastructure to start its partial operation by the end of the year, officials said.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) will provide technical, financial and logistic supports to the PPA to help the country's third seaport to kick off its operation.
"We are taking necessary preparations. We hope we will be able to start limited-scale operation from December 2014," PPA Member Captain Md Saidur Rahman told the FE.
He said building necessary infrastructure is underway to bring ships at the outer anchorage from December this year.
Earlier on Thursday, the CPA and the PPA signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the ministry of shipping (MoS).
CPA Member Captain Zulfiqur Aziz and PPA Member Captain Md Saidur Rahman signed the MoU on behalf of their respective sides.
Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, Shipping Secretary Syed Manjurul Islam and CPA Chairman Commodore Nizamuddin Ahmed, among others, were present on the occasion.
Under the MoU, the CPA will provide training to the manpower of PPA. It will also provide pilot and tug boats and other water vehicles to PPA.
The CPA has provided interest-free loan worth Tk 496 million to PPA in November 2013 for land acquisition and development and building pontoon and other infrastructure facilities.Â Â
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina opened the Paira seaport at Ramnabad in Kalapara upazila of Patuakhali district on November 19, 2013.
The distance of Ramnabad channel is 31 kilometres (km) from the sea boundary, 316 km from Chittagong, 130 km from Mongla port and 340 km from the capital.
The Chittagong seaport has a capacity to handle an aggregate volume of 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers annually while the Mongla port has the capacity to handle 6.5 million tonnes of goods and 50,000 TEUs of containers every year.
The first-ever port (Paira) built in the country after independence would open up a new dimension in the import-export and goods transportation activities, according to the entrepreneurs.
The port is also expected to reduce the pressure on the two other seaports - Chittagong and Mongla - and facilitate transit, ensuring economic and social development of the country's southern and central regions.