China plans to enhance the Mongla port

On Sunday, the interim government approved a project aimed at upgrading the container terminal at Mongla Port in Bagerhat, with a loan of Tk 3,592.90 crore from China.

The Bangladesh government will contribute Tk 475.33 crore to the total project cost of Tk 4,068.23 crore, which was approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) at the Planning Commission in Agargaon, Dhaka. At a briefing after the meeting, planning adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud stated that the port would be developed into a hub, catering to regional countries like Bhutan and Nepal.

China has shown sustained interest in financing the project, he added.

Shipping ministry officials noted that this same project was submitted to ECNEC in 2020 for approval but was rejected at the time.

The project, set to be completed by 2028, includes the construction of a container terminal with necessary equipment, a delivery yard, multi-storied car sheds, removal of sunken wrecks, and improvement of the main roads.

The port’s infrastructure has been inadequate, leading to underutilization of about 40% of its berthing facilities.

Currently, the port authorities are working on several projects, including the Tk 6,015 crore Mongla port upgrade, funded with a Tk 4,459 crore Indian loan since 2020.

The planning adviser mentioned that while foreign loans are generally unfavorable, they become burdensome only when not invested in viable projects. He expressed concerns that the growing debt burden, due to the implementation of large-scale projects by the previous Awami League government, would increase pressure on overall debt payments. He recommended that the National Board of Revenue focus on higher revenue mobilization.

In the same meeting, chaired by Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, 13 projects worth Tk 12,532.28 crore were approved. Of this amount, Tk 4,097.23 crore will come from local sources, while Tk 7,328.95 crore will be funded through foreign sources.

Among the approved projects, nine are new and four are revisions. The other projects include the Uttar Kattali catchment sanitation project in Chattogram (Tk 2,797.22 crore), the third phase of improved seed production and development of rice, wheat, and corn (Tk 474.68 crore), modernization and development of seed production, processing, and distribution management by BADC (Tk 292.86 crore), food safety testing capacity development (Tk 2,409.70 crore), drilling four evaluation-cum-development wells in Titas and Kamta fields (Tk 1,255 crore), conducting seismic surveys in Habiganj, Bakhrabad, and Meghna fields (Tk 454.25 crore), and drilling the Sylhet-12 oil well (Tk 255.25 crore).