Bangladesh Sonadia project gets the green light
With new port plans finally given an official nod, Bangladesh is looking to public/private finance for further developments.
Its major river ports in Chittagong, Khulna and Mongla have all been affected by silting, making accessibility a problem for deeper draft ships. However, Bangladesh is now seeking to build a deep sea port on a PPP basis, partly to bring down transport costs.
Sonadia Island in the Bay of Bengal, not too far away from Chittagong, has recently been chosen as the best site for a new deep-sea port.
The consultation (which was dusted off by the new government after being shelved for two years) approved a first phase of 16 container berths including nine international jetties to be operational around 2016-17 at a cost of around $1.89bn. The next phase to be completed by 2035 will see two more harbours along the same lines and on completion in 2055 the deep-sea port is looking to have six harbours.
The feasibility study proposes to construct 25 miles of railway tracks and roads to help its hinterland connections, including links with Chittagong.
However, this still leaves the question of the fate of the older river ports and their battle against the silt. While Chittagong has just started a programme of dredging that will bring the river’s navigational channel of the river to four metres deep, this has been a long time in coming, especially since the jetties were built to cater for 8.5 metres draft.
It may be that those with close connections to the new development will get the finances and, just as importantly, governmental will, to implement the campaign of capital works needed to keep going against the mud – but ports like Barisal, which has lost navigability each year for the last two decades, may well have to wait a long time.