Chtg Port defers privatisation of new container terminal

Chiitagong: Chittagong Port Authority postponed the move for privatisation of Newmooring Container Terminal that recently stirred a storm in the political and business circles of the port city, port sources said.

Sources informed that higher authorities of the four-party alliance government asked the CPA to backtrack on the planned privatisation fearing a political backlash at the fag end of the tenure.

The CPA Chairman, Shahadat Hossain said that the privation process has been postponed following instruction from the government.

‘We are now planning to run NCT on our own after completion of construction work. We are no more thinking of privatising it,’ the Chairman said, adding, ‘We are thinking to commission the whole NCT by the end of this year when the construction work is expected to end.’

The Port Authority also looks to get two of the berths ready for cargo handling in advance, he added.

The terminal privatisation issue, which was at the centre of a row between the shipping minister Akbar Hossain and port city mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, was almost shelved with the death of the Minister on June 25.

The higher authorities of the government preferred not to go ahead with the plan, sources added.

A source related with privatisation process, however, hinted that the move might come to the forefront again if BNP could return to power after the next election.

The privatization move faced strong opposition from the city mayor, leading to open debate between him and the Shipping Minister.

Rallies and processions became almost a regular feature in the port city over the issue that raised concern over the city’s business community.

At one stage, the mayor threatened to stop the delivery of goods from Chittagong Port if the government goes ahead with the NCT privatisation move, supported by port city chamber and port users’ forum who believed that private operation of the NCT would ensure better handling of cargo containers.

A Chinese construction firm, China Harbour Ltd was awarded the contract for building the Tk 331 crore NCT project at the port area in January 2004, officials said.

The new 1,000 meter-long terminal, if built, would allow berthing of five container vessels at a time for handling, they informed.

With the commissioning of this container project, CPA will gain the strength to handle additional three lakh containers annually and it would ease the container congestion at Chittagong Port, they said.

Continuous growth of container traffic prompted Chittagong Port Authority to take up the project at Newmooring site close to the prime seaport with its own fund.

The Chittagong Port annually handles over 1,500 vessels that call here to carry both import and export goods. Its multipurpose berths, built in 1994 with a cost of Tk 450 crore, have a capacity to handle only 94,000 TEUs containers annually.