China takes up yet another port project in Bangladesh
It is now the turn
of Bangladesh after Nepal and Sri Lanka among our neighbors to forge close ties
with communist China
The Bangladesh’s Mongla
Port Authority signed a deal with a Chinese company last week to dredge the
inner bar of the Mongla Port channel to allow the anchoring of container ships
with 10-metre draught.
Rear Admiral M
Shahjahan, chairman of the Mongla Port Authority, and Yang Zhijum,
representative of the contractor Jianshu Haihong Construction Engineering
Company and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation signed the
agreement.
The 754.08 crore
Taka (Bangladesh currency) project will begin in January 2021 and end in July
2022.
The dredging of the outer bar area of Mongla Port channel completed; soon
to serve ships with 10-metre draught
Bangladesh’s State
Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, who joined the program online
said: "The dredging of the outer bar area of Mongla Port channel has been
completed with around Tk 700 crore and it is expected to serve ships with
10-metre draught soon." Ships have started sailing to and from the newly
dredged channel on Mongla Port's outer bar.
"The completion
of the dredging of the inner bar area of Mongla Port channel will shorten the
turnaround time of ships arriving at the port while cutting the cost of
transporting goods," Khalid Mahmud said. The number of ships arriving at
Mongla Port will surge, playing a major part in the economic development of the
south-west part of the country.
Mongla Port lies on
the bank of the River Pashur. Due to the navigability problem of the Pashur
channel, ships would first unload the containers at Chattogram Port and then
come to Mongla Port after reducing the draught size. This lightening exercise
increased the cost and time of cargo transportation to and from the Mongla
Port. Hence the traders were reluctant to use Mongla Port for import and export
of containerized goods.
The completion of
the new project is expected to achieve the desired depth of channels which
would vastly increase the navigability of the port.
