Supreme Court clears way for foreign firm to run Ctg Port's NCT terminal

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court has upheld a High Court ruling that dismissed a challenge to the legality of the process of awarding the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) operations at Chattogram Port to a foreign company.

With the decision delivered today (12 March), there is now no legal barrier for the Chattogram Port Authority to enter into a contract with a foreign operator to run the terminal.

The Appellate Division, led by the Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury, dismissed the leave-to-appeal petition that had challenged the earlier High Court verdict.

In court, the petition was argued by Advocates Zamir Uddin Sarkar, Ahsanul Karim, and Mahbub Uddin Khokon. The state was represented by Additional Attorney General Aneek R Haque.

Speaking to reporters after the ruling, Aneek said the writ petition had questioned the transparency of a proposed management agreement between the governments of Bangladesh and Dubai regarding the operation of the terminal.

"This is a government-to-government agreement between the Bangladesh government and the Dubai government. Under the law, there is also the Private Partnership Act for foreign investors coming to work in Bangladesh. In addition, the Chittagong Port Authority is legally allowed to hand over any container terminal to foreign management for operation," he explained.

According to Aneek, when the agreement was initially conceived, the investment required for the New Mooring Container Terminal was estimated at around Tk200 crore. Later assessments raised the projected investment to Tk2,400 crore.

"The Dubai government agreed to invest this amount, modernise, renovate, operate and manage the terminal," he added.

The dispute centred on a plan to hand over operation of the NCT to UAE-based logistics giant DP World under a public-private partnership arrangement. An MoU on the initiative was signed on 17 February 2019.

The process was challenged in the High Court by Mirza Walid Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Youth Economists Forum, who questioned the legality and transparency of the proposed agreement between the port authority and the foreign operator.

Following a preliminary hearing, the High Court issued a rule on 30 July last year.

Later, on 4 December, a High Court bench comprising Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Fatema Anwar delivered a split verdict. Justice Najib declared the contract process illegal, citing violations of the Public-Private Partnership Act 2015 and the government-to-government policy of 2017, while Justice Anwar dismissed the petition.

Because of the split verdict, the matter was referred to a third judge. Justice Zafar Ahmed, after hearings lasting several weeks, dismissed the rule on 29 January, concluding that the government had followed proper legal procedures and that the petitioners lacked locus standi.

State lawyers later said the ruling cleared the legal path for the port authority to sign the agreement.

However, on 3 February, the Appellate Division granted leave to appeal against the High Court verdict, making the issue sub judice and temporarily preventing the authorities from signing the NCT deal.

But with today's order rejecting the appeal, that legal uncertainty has now been removed, allowing the government to move forward with the agreement.