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High hopes for Ctg port The chairman of Chittagong Port

Authority pledges to turn the port into an important link in regional business

Dwaipayan Barua, ctg
THE Chittagong Port Authority chairman vows to upgrade the country's premier port to a modern, world-standard port which can be used as an important transit point in regional business.
Rear Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed emphasised improving the port's efficiency and capacity by installing modern systems, improving management and providing better services to users.
The ongoing development projects must be completed in time and necessary steps would be taken to expedite the projects, he said, in a recent interview with The Daily Star.
Ahmed hoped the port's productivity would improve with proper implementation of the recently introduced computerised container terminal management system (CTMS).
CTMS is playing a vital role in streamlining container handling at the port, but it is still in early stages, he said.
“If the initial problems could be rectified, users will experience the full benefits of CTMS within the shortest possible time,” he added.
Ahmed said he wants to sit with all stakeholders separately to find out the problems they face in ser-vices at the port.
“I asked them to identify the problems and submit proposals for port development,” said Ahmed who believes in solving problems through building personal relations with all users.
Rail and river transport systems must be improved for fast transport of goods from the port to Dhaka and elsewhere in the country, he said.
Lighter vessels travelling from the port to Dhaka through the Sandwip Channel have to wait for around six hours for a high tide near the Ramgati point, said the chairman. The regular dredging of rivers will quicken inland vessel movement; and better rail and river transports will cut pressure on the roads, Ahmed added.
The installation of the vessel traffic management information system (VTMIS) is important and necessary for security at the port.
The system will provide surveillance for vessels in the port's territory, including an area of around 20 nautical miles from the third Karnaphuli Bridge on the Kanraphuli River towards the bay. Once the system is installed, all vessel movement would be under the control of the port authority and in case of any incident, coast guards would be able to intercept within half an hour.
In a press briefing yesterday on the occasion of the port's 125th founding anniversary, Ahmed said the radiation detection equipment have been set up at the port in cooperation with Megaport Initiative of United States of America to prevent nuclear and radio active materials entering through the import or export containers
CPA deposited Tk 50 crore in grants and Tk 330 crore in taxes to the state coffers, he said.
Citing some improvement in port activities, Ahmed claimed the average waiting time of a vessel at the outer anchorage came down to 0.41 days this year, which was 1.62 days last year.
“If a vessel has to wait for an additional day with goods, it has to bear an additional cost of around Tk 8 lakh to Tk 12 lakh. The cost of import and export through Chittagong port has come down remarkably.”
The average growth of import and export through the port is now 12 percent to 14 percent. The port's growth should be maintained continuously for the sake of the country and there is no way of sitting idle, Ahmed added.