PAYRA DEEP SEA PORT: Dhaka-Delhi talks on: Indian minister

Talks are going on between Bangladesh and India for the construction of the proposed deep sea port at Payra in Patukhali.
‘…talks are on between our foreign ministry and them [Bangladesh]…Dhaka also wants us…We have sent a team there for studies,’ Indian shipping minister Nitin Gadkari said in Mumbai on Friday. He, however, did not mention the port’s location.
Officials at shipping and foreign ministries in Dhaka confirmed the Indian Shipping minister’s statement.
India Ports Global, the joint venture between state-run Mumbai-based Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Gujrat-based Kandla Port Trust for overseas ports, is interested to construct the port, said an Indian shipping ministry release on Friday.
Officials said that Britain, China and Netherlands are also intent on constructing the deep sea port since the present government decided to build it in 2013.
In November 2015, the government approved a Tk 1,128 crore project to start the construction of Payra deep sea port on a limited scale.
Immediately after the approval of the fund, India expressed its intent on the port construction under a government-to-government deal.
Chinese ambassador in Dhaka Ma Mingqiang said in March that China was keen on investing in the construction of the Payra deep sea port in collaboration with any country.
‘For the cooperation with other countries for deep sea port we are open,’ he said at a view exchange meeting with journalists in Dhaka. ‘If there is a port, of course we are willing [to work] with any country. If there is willingness to cooperate, we can do it together.’
Two Chinese companies had shown interest in constructing a deep sea port at Sonadia in Cox’s Bazar, he said, as this port ‘is a priority project here and now they are focusing on Payra [in Patuakhali]’.
Bangladesh is located at the centre of three big economies—India, North East Asia and South East Asia.
British firm HR Wallingford, appointed in January 2015 for the feasibility study on the port, in its draft report stated that about 35 per cent of the estimated cost of $20 billion needed to be spent for dredging.
The government has shelved the construction of Sonadia Deep Sea Port after refusing to award the contract to China during prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Beijing in June 2014.
On November 19, 2013, the prime minister formally inaugurated the Payra Sea Port as the country’s 3rd sea port at Ramnabad Channel of Kalapara upazila in Patuakhali.
The government has also approved a Japanese proposal to construct the 18-metre-deep port for transferring coal for the proposed 1200MW Matarbari power station at Matarbari of Moheshkhali upazila in Cox’s Bazar.
Chittagong Port accounts 80 per cent of the country’s sea borne trades now.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net