Korean firms to prepare Bay terminal’s master plan, detailed design

The government has appointed consultants for preparing a detailed master plan and engineering design, drawing and estimation for the Bay terminal project under Chattogram Port with a view to completing the construction of the multipurpose terminal by 2024.

Two South Korean companies – Kunhwa Consulting and Engineering Company Limited and DY Engineering – will oversee the project along with developing the master plan at a cost of Tk126.49 crore.

To this end, Rear Admiral Mohammad Shahjahan, chairman of Chattogram Port Authority (CPA), Hwang Kyu Young, president of Kunhwa Consulting, and Kim Dae Jin, managing director of DY Engineering, signed an agreement on behalf of their respective organisations at a city hotel on Tuesday.

In addition, the government on the same day entered into an agreement with Symbiotic Architects and Associates as a sub-consulting firm.

The CPA chairman said the two major consulting firms would complete a preliminary study in two to three months and a detailed design in six to seven months.

According to sources in the shipping ministry, the new terminal is being constructed in a bid to increase the handling capacity of the country's principal seaport. This will allow ships to dock here round-the-clock. The Chattagram Port Authority will be responsible for the construction and operation of this multipurpose terminal.

The Bay terminal will be built through public-private partnership between the two governments. The cost of the entire project is estimated at $2.1 billion.

The terminal will have multimodal connectivity facilities, including road and rail tracks to the east of the project.

There are no bends in the Bay Terminal Channel and due to proper navigability, it will be possible to berth ships with a maximum carrying capacity of 6,000 TEUs with a 10-12 metre draft. It will be possible to berth 30-35 ships at the same time at the bay terminal.

At present, the Chattogram port jetties can accommodate ships with a maximum draft of 9.5 metres and a length of 190 metres. Besides, the port is navigated just twice a day due to its dependence on high tides.

The bay terminal will initially have three terminals – a 1,225 metre-long container terminal (Container Terminal-1), an 830 metre-long container terminal (Container Terminal-2) and a 1,500 metre-long multipurpose terminal. The total length of the three terminals is 3.55km and there will be a total of 13 jetties.

The size of the operational area of Chattogram port is only 330 acres, while the Bay terminal area will be 2,500 acres - about seven times bigger than the current operational area of the port.

The distance from the bay terminal to the outer anchorage is only one kilometre. The width of the channel is 800-1,200 metres. To protect the bay terminal from hostile weather and large sea waves, a five-kilometre breakwater will be constructed.

The bay terminal is connected to the outer ring road and the 4-lane road. Besides, transportation of goods will be facilitated as there is no city traffic in the project area.

The bay terminal is a priority project of the government. The prime minister has already said that she would like to see it open by 2024, according to State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, who was present at the signing ceremony.

He said the Chattogram port handles almost all the growing import-export trade of the country. It handled a record 32 lakh TEU containers last year, the highest in a single year, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Its capacity is being continuously increased, keeping in view future demand for international trade.

Besides handling the trade of the country, Chattogram port also handles import and export of neighbouring countries. Through this, the port has become a regional transhipment-transit hub, he added.

The state minister said the government has taken an initiative to implement Matarbari deep seaport to facilitate international trade as well as increase the range of transhipment-transit services.

Besides Matarbari, the Bay Terminal will play an important role in the maritime transport sector of Bangladesh. It will play a helpful role in making the service activities of Chattogram Port more effective, he added.