Published : 08 Oct 2026, 03:58 PM
Updated : 08 Oct 2026, 04:28 PM
A concession agreement has been signed with Dubai-based DP World to operate the New Mooring Container Terminal at Chittagong Port despite objections from several groups.
The agreement was signed at the Invest Bangladesh Auditorium in Agargaon at 3pm Thursday.
Several leftist political parties and organisations held a sit-in outside the auditorium, where protesters shouted slogans and spoke against the agreement.
The participants include the Bangladesh Samajtantrik Dal (BaSaD), Democratic Revolutionary Party, Bangladesh JaSaD, BaSaD (Marxist), Bangladesh Samyabadi Andolon, Anti-Imperialist and Anti-War Alliance, Democratic Student Alliance and Democratic Rights Committee.
Formalities surrounding the NCT concession agreement started at 3pm at the Invest Bangladesh Auditorium.
The NCT is the largest of the four main terminals for the loading and unloading containers from ships at Chittagong Port.
During the Awami League government, an initiative was taken to hand over the operation of the NCT to DP World under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Government-to-Government (G2G) framework.
That initiative, however, did not materialise.
After the fall of the Awami League government in the face of a mass uprising on Aug 5, 2024, the interim government led Muhammad Yunus resumed the process of handing over the responsibility of the NCT to a foreign operator.
When intensive negotiations on the agreement began at the end of the interim government’s tenure, port workers and employees went on strike. In light of this, the interim government suspended the process of leasing the NCT to a foreign operator on Feb 8.
The new BNP government wrote to the port authority on Jun 4 to continue negotiations with DP World. According to the government's instructions, the Chittagong Port Authority also formed a 12-member support team to assist in the negotiation process.
For several months, the Port Protection Committee has held various programmes, including mass hunger strikes and protest marches, demanding that the NCT leasing process be scrapped.
In September, the Sramik Dal and the Port Protection Council also announced plans to join the movement.
The government says handing over NCT operations to a foreign operator will increase the port’s operational efficiency and speed up container handling through modern technology.
It also says the deal will bring foreign direct investment to the logistics and port infrastructure sectors, boost international trade and help develop local workers’ skills through exposure to modern port management.
Protesters, however, say handing NCT operations to a foreign operator could cause losses at Chattogram Port, weaken its skilled workforce and expose Bangladesh to geopolitical risks.
They also say leasing the terminal to a multinational company could deprive the government of revenue, lead to large amounts of foreign currency leaving the country and create a risk of dangerous goods being unloaded under the concession agreement.
