The government will start the construction of inland container river port in Brahmanbaria’s Ashuganj in July this year as the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) gave its nod.
The ECNEC approved a new project titled ‘Establishment of Inland Container River Port at Ashuganj’ at an estimated cost of Tk 12.93 billion revoking a previous project.
Out of the Tk 12.93 billion project cost, the government will fund Tk 8.62 billion while the rest Tk 4.31 billion will come from the Indian 2nd Line of Credit (LoC).
Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) under the Ministry of Shipping will implement the project December 2021, according to sources at the Planning Commission.
Sources at the planning ministry said, the government has planned to set up inland container river port in Ashuganj to facilitate transportation of containers in the river route as well as transportation of containers from the Chittagong, Mongla and other ports and thus transport those to different places of the county and to the neighboring countries.
The project aims to create regional and sub-regional trade facilities and thus contribute to the economic development of the country.
In 2014, Ashuganj was declared as a river port as large number of ships, cargos and vassals sails every day. The river port has also been classified as a 'Port of Call' in line with the Inland Water Transport and Trade Protocol between Bangladesh and India.
'Port of Call' provides the facility of loading and unloading of goods of the river vessels of both the countries. According to the initial survey, it will be possible to transport around 4 lakh twenty feet equivalent units (TEUs) of containers on this route every year.
Besides, once the container handling facilities are established at the Ashuganj River Port, trade and commerce would get a boost in the greater Sylhet region alongside the major parts of Dhaka and Chittagong.
Earlier on January 4, 2011, the ECNEC first approved the 'Establishment of Inland Container River Port at Ashuganj' project with an estimated cost of Tk 2.46 billion with Tk 1 billion from the Indian 1st Line of Credit (LoC).
But, the project could not see the daylight since there was no detailed survey on it.
Sources at the planning ministry said, Indian state-run consulting firm WAPCOS carried out a detailed survey including conceptual drawing design for Ashuganj river port.
Later, it was decided to frame a new project scrapping the first one.
On October 26, 2017, the Planning Commission recommended for implementing the project is subject to restructuring the project at a Pre Evaluation Committee (PEC) meeting.
In line with the PEC meeting, the shipping ministry sent a revised Development Project Proposal (DPP) at the estimated cost of Tk 12.93 billion
The main project operations include 12.8 hectares of land acquisition, procurement of cargo handling equipments, civil works including common infrastructure facilities, port work, cargo terminal infrastructures and consultancy services for the design and supervision works, according to the shipping ministry.