The Chinese government has sent a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) to its Bangladesh counterpart on the construction of a deep seaport at Sonadia in Chittagong, officials said Thursday."We have received a draft of the MoU from China Merchants Holdings International Company Ltd (CMHI) last week. But it is yet to take a concrete shape," Shipping Secretary Abdul Mannan Howlader told the FE.
"Once there is any development, we will let the people know it through press conference," Mr Howlader said.
CMHI Senior Deputy General Manager Mark Yang signed the forwarding letter of the MoU on June 21 but it reached the ministry of shipping last week.
"We are sending the draft of the MoU according to the decision of the meeting held on May 30 last in Dhaka," Mr Yang wrote to the shipping secretary.
The CMHI authority also invited Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan and the shipping secretary to visit Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong to see their operations there.
Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes last week told newsmen that Bangladesh was yet to prepare a structural design for the project though one year had elapsed since the assurance from Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping.
The Chinese vice-president also reiterated his government's commitment to Bangladesh in the construction of deep seaport two weeks back at a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dipu Moni in Beijing.
Earlier in the middle part of last May Chinese Transport Minister Li Shenglin in a letter to Shajahan Khan designated their state-owned entity CMHI for construction and operation of the proposed deep seaport.
In 2006, Japanese firm Pacific Consultant International (PCI) first conducted a feasibility study for the proposed seaport.
The seaport, to be built at Sonadia Island of Moheshkhali in Chittagong, at the first stage will contain five international standard jetties with the capacity of handling a total of 704.01 million tonnes of containers a year.
The total construction cost of the seaport in three phases has been estimated at Tk 600 billion, the first phase of which is to be completed by 2020 at a cost of Tk 130 billion.
The CMHI is the largest port operator in China and is operating five key port clusters in the mainland China. It had stakes in ports in Nigeria, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.
According to a communiqué between the two governments, the Chinese side has shown interest to fund construction of the seaport under a commercial contract.
The shipping ministry in March shortlisted seven companies for detailed designing of the seaport, although it still remains not clear whether any company other than the Chinese one would be eligible for the final selection.
A government-to-government deal to construct the seaport would mean that the shipping ministry has to cancel the bidding process and select the CMHI to construct and operate it without going through any selection process, sources said.
The detailed design of the seaport will cost Tk 1.0 billion for which the Chittagong Port will provide fund. The ministry of shipping last week held a meeting in this connection.
The worsening congestion situation at Chittagong Port is the main reason for which the government has opted to build a deep seaport at Sonadia.
The Chittagong Port has handled some 1.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers during the first 11 months of the 2010-11 fiscal year (FY) against 1.09 million TEUs of containers in the same period in FY 2009-10.
Bangladesh has planned to make Sonadia a major regional shipping hub, catering to the demand of north-east India, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and southern Chinese province of Yunnan.
News Source:
The Financial Express
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