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Published : 29 Jan 2026, 09:06 PM
The High Court has dismissed a petition challenging the legality of the ongoing process for a contract between Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and a foreign company to operate the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT)
The court's move effectively removes the last legal obstacle to the deal, say legal experts.
The ruling was delivered on Thursday by a single bench of Justice Zafar Ahmed, after a prior split verdict by a two-judge bench prompted the chief justice to form this third bench for final adjudication.
The writ petition was filed by Mirza Walid Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Young Economists Forum, naming the shipping secretary, the CPA chairman, and the PPP authority chief executive as respondents.
Lawyers Zamir Uddin, Ahsanul Karim, Mahbub Uddin Khokon, and Anwar Hossain represented the petitioners, while Additional Attorney General Aneek R Haque appeared for the state.
The petition, citing media reports including an Apr 26 feature in Bengali daily Prothom Alo, the title translating to “Everything exists at Chittagong’s NCT -- so why is it handed to foreigners?”, sought a fair and competitive tender process for NCT operations.
The High Court had initially issued a rule on Jul 30, questioning whether the contract process with the foreign operator exceeded legal authority.
Of the four container terminals at Chittagong port, NCT is the largest. Of its five jetties, four handle container ships, while one serves smaller inland vessels.
In 2024, 44 percent of the port’s container traffic passed through NCT.
Constructed between February 2004 and December 2007 at a cost of Tk 4.69 billion, the terminal has five jetties.
After multiple tenders and legal delays, Saif Power Tech Limited and its partners were contracted in 2015 to operate jetties 4 and 5, and later jetties 2 and 3, initially for two-year terms.
Subsequently, the company has operated NCT continuously under direct purchase method contracts, extended 12 times, most recently on Jan 7, 2026.
Since 2004, CPA has invested nearly Tk 20 billion in equipment, including rubber-tyred gantry and quay cranes.
NCT has a capacity of a million TEUs annually; in 2024, Saif Power Tech handled 1.281 million TEUs.
While previous governments considered foreign operators, including UAE-based DP World, the current interim government has also expressed interest in involving foreign partners.
Critics, including port labour groups, leftist organisations, and political parties, have opposed this, citing sovereignty and security concerns.
Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, however, defended the decision on Jun 6, stating that global port operators work without threatening national sovereignty or security in their home countries.
