IFC made Ctg port’s transaction adviser

The Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPO) has appointed the International Finance Corporation (IFC) as a transaction adviser to help with the financial matters during the recruiting process of a foreign firm that will operate a container terminal at the Chittagong Port and the newly constructed Patenga Container Terminal (PCT).

According to port and relevant sources, five world-renowned port operators — including Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT) and Denmark's APM Terminals of the Maersk Group — have already shown interest to operate the terminals.

The other three are DP World of UAE, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited of India and PSA International of Singapore.

According to PPPO Director General Md Abul Bashar, "We have already spent a lot of time in hiring operators for PCT. Now we want to complete this process as soon as possible."

PPPO signed an agreement with IFC, a sister organisation of the World Bank, last week to finalize the financial agreement between the operator company, the government and Chittagong Port Authority (CPA). IFC has been asked to submit their report within 75 days, he said.

The foreign operator will run the facilities on the supply-operate-transfer (SOT) basis under the PPP model in line with Government-to-Government (G2G) negotiation, he added.

As the construction work of the Patenga terminal, built at a cost of about Tk 1,400 crore from the CPA fund, is nearly complete and the volumes of goods and ships are very high at Chittagong Port, CPA has decided to run PCT till the foreign operator is appointed. Ships will start docking here this July.

Only ships with cranes will be allowed to berth for the time being, said CPA Secretary Mohammad Omar Faruk.

He said three container jetties of a total length of 583.5 metres and a 204-metre-long dolphin jetty will be able to handle 5,00,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers annually.

PCT will require equipment worth at least Tk 800-1,000 crore, for which the operator will invest in line with the PPP model. Under the SOT formula, the operator will control the terminal and collect the revenue for a specified period and then transfer it to the authorities of Chittagong Port, the country’s prime export and import gateway.