Matarbarhi deep sea port work to start ‘next year’

Japan is set to start construction work at Matarbarhi, the site of a proposed deep seaport in Cox’s Bazar district off the southeastern coast of Bangladesh, by early next year.

Sources at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) confirmed the work will possibly start as early as January 2016 at Matarbarhi in Maheshkhali Upazila.

The port will have a draft of around 18 metres, more than two to three times that available in Bangladesh’s existing ports in Chittagong and Mongla.

The poor draft means bigger ships have to offload cargo in deep sea, which is then carried by lighterage vessels to the ports.

That means higher port handling expenditure and that plays into the competitiveness of Bangladesh’s exports.

JICA is already financing Tk 290 billion of the Tk 360 billion project to build a 1200-megawatt coal-based power plant at Maheshkhali—the country’s most expensive power project so far.

The Bangladesh government okayed the 'Matarbarhi 2x600 Megawatt Ultra Super Critical Coal Fired Power Project' in August last year.

In January this year, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) first confirmed the possibility of selecting Matarbarhi as an alternative site for the much-talked-about deep seaport project at Maheshkhali’s Sonadia.

China had earlier offered to build a deep seaport at Sonadia and an agreement was expected during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Beijing last year.

But that did not happen and there was much speculation that someone other than China may be in consideration for the project.

However, after the PMO discussed considering another site for a deep seaport, officials quickly checked on Matarbarhi’s viability.

In February, Chief Executive Officer of Deep Seaport Cell Captain Shariful Ahsan was accompanied by a secretary to Prime Minister’s Office on a visit to Matarbarhi to check on the viability of  the proposed project.

During the visit, they also checked the land records of Matarbarhi.

In April, Finance Minister AMA Muhith announced Japan was “very much interested” to build the proposed deep seaport at Matarbarhi.

After Japan’s interest, China has decided not to compete in the bidding process for the Matarbarhi port, he said.

“China is now not interested in the Matarbarhi project as Japan has shown interest. The Chinese authorities do not want to take part in the bidding race against Japan,” Muhith told reporters after meeting China’s Ambassador in Bangladesh Ma Mingqiang.

Muhith said the ambassador was “happy since China had got the construction work of Padma Bridge and are looking for investment opportunities in Bangladesh telecommunications sector”.

“The winning of Karnaphuli tunnel construction work has also satisfied them,” Muhith commented.

Sonadia not given up

But officials at the planning ministry say the Sonadia project has not been given up on.

“Discussions on the Sonadia project are on and have not been called off.  But the Matarbarhi deep seaport project has picked up speed and work may start early next year,” said a planning ministry official.

But he did not wish to be named, on the grounds that he was not officially authorised to speak to the media.

He said global media reports projecting the Sonadia-Matarbarhi issue as China-Japan competition was ‘not quite correct’.

“One project may happen before another because there are fewer controversial issues involved. But it is not correct to say Bangladesh is just considering one deep sea port and that there is space for only one deep sea port,” the official said.

Matarbarhi and Sonadia are 25 kilometres apart and experts say two ports in these locations could well help Bangladesh save on transport and logistics infrastructure development.

"Funding is the issue. If we have funding for two ports on our terms, why not?" said the planning ministry official.

Earlier this June, Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan had cited ‘lack of funds’ for the delay in going ahead with the Sonadia project.

Bangladesh has not built a new seaport since it became an independent nation in 1971 by breaking away from Pakistan.

But its economy has grown sharply in recent years, recording an average annual GDP growth of 6 percent.

Its exports, especially readymade garment, have increased at great pace.

State Minister for Finance and Planning MA Mannan has been on record saying Bangladesh is game for both the Sonadia and the Matarbarhi ports.

"Matarbarhi would be used mostly for handling coal imports to supply power plants, while Sonadia would be a full-fledged deep-sea port,” he has said recently.

“Bangladesh needs new ports, not one but many, at the rate its economy is expanding,”says Bikram Sarkar, former chairman of Calcutta Port Trust and a known expert on the subject.

“And all its new ports have to be deep-sea ports as otherwise, they cannot take in huge container vessels and that means higher handling costs ,” he told bdnews24.com.

“Chittagong is like Calcutta, both British time ports. Much as we are considering a deep seaport at Sagar Island, Bangladesh is considering deep sea ports off the Cox’s Bazar coast,” Sarkar said.

Specially, if Bangladesh's ports were going to be used for transhipment of goods between India's mainland and its land-locked Northeast, he added.