Contracts signed with Japanese organizations for Matarbari port project
Bangladesh yesterday signed two agreements with the joint ventures led by two Japanese organizations to appoint consultants for the engineering and consultancy services for the Matarbari Port Development Project.
Nippon Koei JV of Japan has been selected as the top-ranked consulting firm to render engineering-related services with a negotiated contract price of Tk 234 crore.
A jv of Oriental Consultants Global Co Ltd, DDC Ltd and BCL Ltd has been selected as the consulting firm to render services linked to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD)'s element of the project with a negotiated contract price of Tk 466 crore.
The Chattogram Port Authority (CPA) inked the cope with the Nippon Koei JV and the RHD struck the other agreement with the JV of Oriental Consultants Global at a programme at the Hotel Intercontinental in Dhaka, the shipping ministry said in a news release.
While attending the ceremony virtually, Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, state minister for shipping, appreciated the findings of a study that located the Matarbari deep seaport on the same channel produced by the ultra-supercritical coal-based power plant project with just a little modification.
He said this may be a lesson how to maximise the advantage of investment and affordability strategy.
The port would broaden the country's rights in the Bay of Bengal, said Planning Minister MA Mannan.
Yuho Hayakawa, chief representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in Bangladesh, said the Jica is happy that the contract for the consultancy services of the project was signed.
The Jica's mission has been working closely with the shipping ministry, the CPA and the RHD from the inception of the project and is ready to work until its completion, he said.
The Matarbari project in Cox's Bazar is likely to complete by 2026. Once officially launched, ships that may ply in the sea waters as deep as 18.5 metres and carry about 8,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit of containers would anchor at the port. This would lower the transport cost by about 15 per cent.
The project would cost Tk 17,777 crore. The Jica would provide Tk 12,892 crore in loans, the CPA Tk 2,213 crore and the government Tk 2,671 crore.
Shipping Secretary Mohammed Mezbah Uddin Chowdhury and Japanese Ambassador Hiroyuki Yamaya were present.
