The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has asked the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) to arrange funds immediately to construct the country's third seaport, Paira Port, to fulfil the present government's election pledge, sources said.
To intensify the move to construct the seaport in Patuakhali district the PMO even recently inquired if construction of a full-fledged port is possible from the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) funds, the PMO sources added.
"The government high-ups want quick construction of the port. So, we asked the MoS to look for every possible way to collect fund for it," a senior PMO official told the FE.
He said the CPA itself has some Tk 70 billion in its account. "We are also considering if this fund can be used for construction of Paira seaport and establishing export-processing zones in different areas."
Mentioning that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on November 19 last year formally inaugurated the Paira seaport, the official reaffirmed that it is her election pledge to construct the seaport as early as possible for the development of southern districts of the country.
After the inauguration the government has decided to start its operation as an anchorage port and the Paira Port Authority (PPA) is carrying out necessary infrastructural development works.
Besides, the government has decided to seek foreign funds to build the port on government-to-government (G to G) basis. To this end, the cabinet committee on economic affairs in September last approved a proposal of the shipping ministry regarding construction of a full-fledged port on G-to-G or-Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
Shipping secretary Shafique Alam Mehdi told the FE that construction of Paira Port is a priority project of his ministry.
He said he will visit the port site Wednesday to see the development works on stream.
Mr Mehdi acknowledged that the PMO is giving utmost importance to construction of the seaport as early as possible.
Hydrograph experts and mariners, however, told the FE the site for Paira Port-Rabnabad Channel in Patuakhali--was selected without carrying out a full-scale feasibility study to ascertain whether the spot would be appropriate for a seaport.
They said Sonadia was selected as a site for deep-sea port after carrying out survey and considering comparative advantages with Potenga, Kutubdia, Moheskhali, and Sandwip. But, while selecting the site for Paira Port, no such survey was carried out, they added.
They also said the water draft on inland river route from Dhaka connecting Paira Port, through which goods will be carried to the capital and elsewhere, is very low.
According to Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) during the first week in November, the average water draft from Dhaka to Paira was between 2.25 metres and 2.40 metres while the average water draft between Narayanganj and Chittagong measures 3.65 metres.
Experts said the depth of water between Dhaka and Paira Port is too low for any vessel to carry goods with full load. As a result, vessels have to carry goods with half-load--and thus the carrying cost will be more than double.
They said carrying out dredging works spending a significant amount of money also may not work in this case. There is no instance of raising water draft even 0.5 metre so far. No full-load vessels will be able to ply the route unless the water draft can be raised to 4.0 metres.
Terming the future of Paira 'bleak', they also said there was no study on comparative advantages, relating to cost and time consumption, among Paira, Mongla, and Chittagong. So, businessmen will hardly be interested to use the port, they forewarned.
The Paira anchorage port also will not be viable considering all the aspects, they noted.
Sources said Dubai-based DP World and Indian Adani Group did not show interest in investing in Paira Port considering its location and connectivity. In several meetings with government high-ups they pointed out several disadvantages of setting up the seaport at the site.
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