WB begins feasibility study on financing Ctg Bay Terminal

The World Bank has started a feasibility study to finance about $350 million for dredging and breakwater construction projects at the proposed Bay Terminal of Chittagong Port.

A delegation of 11 members of the World Bank arrived at Chittagong Port on Sunday and will stay till September 07.

Secretary of the Port Authority Mohammad Omer Faruoq said the World Bank delegation met the officials at the port building and discussed various issues of the Bay Terminal project.

They will visit the proposed site of the Bay Terminal in Patenga area today.

A proposal was made to the World Bank for financing the Bay Terminal project through the Economic Relations Division (ERD) of the government, he said.

Plans were made to construct a port named Bay Terminal about 6.15-km long in the Sandwip Channel of the Bay of Bengal at Patenga on around 2,500 acres of land stretching from the backside of the Chattogram Export Processing Zone (CEPZ) to Rasmonighat on the Halishahar.

The terminal will accommodate ships with a depth of at least 12 meters. At present, the main port’s channel in Karnaphuli River can accommodate ships with a depth of 9.14 meters.

In August 2017, the CPA appointed a joint venture of two German firms – Sellhorn Ingenieur gesellschaft mbH and HPC Hamburg Port Consulting (GmbH) - and a Bangladeshi firm KS Consultants Limited submitted the feasibility study on the Bay Terminal project.

The project was then taken up at a cost $2.15 billion. At least five foreign companies including Red Sea Gateways of Saudi Arabia and DP World, a global port facilities developer expressed interest in investing.

But the physical work of the project has not progressed much due to land acquisition, non-availability of funds and inability to finalize the design.

Port sources said initially there is no need for capital dredging and breakwater construction.

But the feasibility study report ‍suggested for construction of a 5-km breakwater to protect the terminal from storms and floods as it will be constructed in the open sea.

Since there is no revenue generation from the breakwater and dredging sector, it has been kept separate from the main project, for which a loan of $350 million has been sought from the World Bank, the port sources said.

A World Bank team and the officials of CPA met to discuss the project, said Mehrin Ahamed Mahbub, Sr External Affairs Officer of World Bank, told The Business Post.

After the government’s proposal to the World Bank for financing, the global financial institution proposed for updating the project feasibility study and accordingly CPA appointed Kunhwa-DY joint venture of two South Korean companies as the consultant to update the design of the Bay Terminal.

Besides, CPA’s proposal to appoint a joint venture of Sellhorn, WSP, KS, and Aqua, Germany, as the consultant for the channel dredging and breakwater construction got approval from the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase.