KHULNA, Oct 28: The development work on a set of infrastructure projects aimed at modernising Mongla Port, the second largest seaport of the country, is likely to start in the first quarter of next year.
According to sources at Mongla Port Authority (MPA), a decision to this effect was made at a board meeting last month.
Aiming for increasing the capacity of Mongla Port, the MPA has taken "Mongla Port Modernisation Project" involving cost of Taka 6,014 crore.
Mongla Port Authority Chairman Rear Admiral M Mozammel Haque told The Daily Observer that capacity of the port will be enhanced manifold on completion of the project.
The project has already been approved in the pre-ECNEC meeting, he said, adding Bangladesh Government will fund Tk 184 crore while Indian Government will fund Tk 530 crore as soft loan.
He also hoped that ECNEC will approve the project by December, 2019.
The project activities include expanding of two jetties with container facilities, 600-meter parking yard, a large multi-storied garage for car parking, four lanes of six-kilometre road with drainage system, a shipyard, flyover, purchasing of survey and tag boats and modern machineries for handling cargoes and containers and other facilities.
Beside 'Mongla Port Modernisation Project,' he said, the government has taken a set of development projects for gearing up import and export activities through the port.
The government has collected a mobile harbour crane which began activities for loading and unloading containers to and from ships on August this year.
Mongla Port has already turned into a profitable and busy port with enhanced foreign ship anchoring, cargo handling and exports and imports in the last ten years.
Md Mostofa Kamal, director of the MPA told the Observer that the port has witnessed at least 100 foreign ship anchoring in February, 2019, breaking all previous records; at least 912 ships have been anchored while 1.13 crore metric tonnes of cargoes were handled in 2018-2019 fiscal year.
The Mongla Port, which was previously known as Chalna Port, was founded at Mongla in Bagerhat in 1950. It is now the second busiest seaport of the country.
Many International shipping companies have turned to Mongla as an alternative due to increasing congestion in the country's largest seaport in Chittagong.
