DHAKA — The government has no plan to hand over the Chattogram port to any foreign operator, Shipping Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam told parliament on Wednesday.
He made the statement in response to a starred question from Mohammad Shahadat Hossain, a ruling-party member of parliament representing the Lakshmipur-1 constituency.
The shipping minister said operators are appointed only to run port terminals under the Public-Private Partnership Authority (PPPA) or under arrangements issued or approved by the government. Both domestic and foreign operators are eligible for consideration in such cases, he said.
Various port terminals are being operated by domestic and foreign operators to modernize the port and meet rising capacity needs in line with the country’s import-export trade, the minister said. The Patenga Container Terminal (PCT), for instance, is being run by a foreign operator.
An agreement has also been signed under the public-private partnership method with APM Terminals BV, a subsidiary of Denmark’s Maersk Group, to build and operate the Laldia Container Terminal at Laldia Char on the right bank of the Karnaphuli River.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report