Prime Minister and BNP chairman Tarique Rahman said the government has begun work to secure energy supplies so that economic activity along a corridor from Mongla to the country’s north can be sustained. As part of that, gas and electricity supply will be ensured for the port, economic zones, export processing zones and factories. He said this on Thursday (5 November) at the launch of jetty construction and the laying of the foundation stone for a Tk 4,068 crore project to develop and modernise Mongla port.
The prime minister arrived in the Mongla port area by helicopter at 10am.
He then attended a gathering and the opening ceremony at the port’s jetty No. 9. The event drew a festive crowd across the coastal region. Party workers had lined the Mongla-Khulna highway since morning to catch a glimpse of the prime minister, and BNP supporters from Mongla and Rampal, men and women, stood on both sides of the road to welcome him.
A Tk 4068 crore project for the port: As part of the port’s modernisation, a memorandum of understanding was signed at Thursday’s event between the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Invest Bangladesh) and the chairman of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), the global infrastructure company. People involved in the project say the Tk 4068 crore scheme will change the economic picture of the region.
Port traders, importers, exporters and factory owners said they hope the partnership will bring international technical expertise, quality construction and completion on schedule.
The four-year project has an estimated cost of $335.78 million, about Tk 4,068.23 crore. Under the port authority’s plan, its main element is two modern jetties. Once built, the two long jetties, able to berth international container vessels, will be used to unload and store containers arriving from abroad.
The project will also build a large container yard where loaded containers can be kept for long periods, to speed up unloading and transit. A separate, secured yard will be built for hazardous goods so that chemicals and other dangerous cargo can be handled safely. Modern equipment will be added to the port’s operations: 49 pieces of heavy machinery, cranes among them, will be installed to speed up container handling.
A new economic map for the south-west: For a long time, the lack of gas at Mongla port and the economic zones around it has slowed industrial growth. In his speech, the prime minister set out the government’s plan to resolve this. He said that securing energy to sustain corridor-based economic activity from Mongla to the north is one of the government’s priorities. The Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources and the authorities concerned have already finalised the design of the field infrastructure to bring gas connections and uninterrupted power to factories at Mongla port as quickly as possible. This is expected to cut production costs considerably for heavy industry, frozen food processing plants and the new special economic zones.
At the event, chaired by Mongla Port Authority chairman Rear Admiral Arif Ahmed Mostafa, officials said the port’s operational capacity would multiply once the project is complete. With modern cranes for loading and unloading, at least 30 containers could be handled an hour, raising the annual container handling target to 400,000 TEUs. Transport, unloading and storage costs for traders at the port would fall to a minimum, and goods imported and exported through Mongla would move directly over the Padma Bridge to Dhaka and north Bengal in an uninterrupted supply chain.
Analysts say the modernisation of Mongla port and the gas and power connections will be a game-changer not only for Bagerhat and Khulna but for the national economy. More than a hundred thousand people are expected to find direct or indirect work in the region, with shipping, C&F agents, transport (Mahindra, easy-bike and heavy truck associations) and local housing and commerce set to benefit most.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report