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Fresh row grips New Mooring terminal

AKM Raisul Huq Bahar, ctg
THE Chittagong Port faces uncertainty due to the rivalry between some ruling party factions over the appointment of an operator for the newly built New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT).
Due to a difference of opinions on how it should be run, the Tk 737-crore terminal has remained almost idle for around three years since it was built in 2009.
The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has recently floated an international bidding to appoint an operator for the NCT.
But the bidding received poor responses. Though 43 parties purchased pre-qualification documents, only seven parties submitted documents and four were qualified.
The CPA and the shipping ministry then revised some eligibility requirements, particularly in terms of technical and financial capability of the bidders, to increase participation.
ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, Chittagong city unit president of the ruling Awami League, protested the relaxation, claiming that the changes were intended to favour Saif Power Tech Ltd.
Saif Power is the present berth operator at Chittagong Container Terminal, another container terminal of the CPA built in late 1980s.
Chowdhury, also an ex-mayor of Chittagong City Corporation, formed a platform, Chattagram Bandar Rokkha Parishad, and announced agitation in phases for the cancellation of the bidding process.
On the other hand, MA Latif, another ruling party lawmaker from Chittagong-10 constituency where the port is located, is leading a section of business community under the banner of Port Users' Forum and protests Chowdhury's allegations.
Meanwhile, the shipping ministry instructed the port authority to finalise the bidding process to enable commissioning of the terminal at the earliest.
After the revision of the eligibility requirements, five firms took part in the bidding by the August 30 deadline.
On September 2, the Central Procurement Technical Unit stopped the process to review a complaint of a bidder. The review panel is yet to submit its findings.
CPA officials said the accusation of favouring Saif Power Tech or any particular firm is unfounded as nobody knows who will be the lowest bidder in the tendering process.
"If Saif does not come out lowest, how can it be offered the job?" questioned a senior official of the CPA, requesting not to be named.
Moreover, the bidding is still under process and it will be premature to speculate anything, the official said.
Tarafder Md Ruhul Amin, managing director of Saif Power Tech, said: “We are going through a bidding process. I don't see any favouritism here.”
“We are competing with international companies. The CPA didn't single us out for the job. So the question of favouritism is meaningless,” he said.
Saif Power Tech handled 3.5 million TEUs of containers at the Chittagong Port over the last five years, he said.
The construction of the New Mooring terminal began in 2003 with the evacuation of a residential block occupied by some CPA employees and villagers. It was completed in 2009 but could not be made operational due to indecision of the concerned authorities over modalities.
Meanwhile, policymakers had decided in March 2007 to hand over the terminal to a private firm to operate it on a "supply, operate, transfer" basis through an international bidding.
The port can now handle 1.5 million TEUs (twentyfoot equivalent units) of containers annually.
Many CPA employees and key figures from different professions, including left-leaning political leaders of the port city, severely opposed the move to hand the
terminal to a private firm.
Their argument was that the CPA will then retain the ownership of the new terminal.
The port authority will require Tk 100 crore to procure necessary equipment to start the terminal's operations and has more than Tk 400 crore in its coffers.
The shipping ministry and policymakers prefer involvement of the private sector in running the NCT as a pivotal aspect of the current market economy.
Users of the port support the government as private management has less bureaucratic and red tape delays and can start operating the terminal sooner.
The terminal remains idle during the delays, much to the loss for the CPA.
Stakeholders and analysts said the port authority's present capacity is sufficient to handle transit facility for the neighbouring India, Nepal, Bhutan and China.
If Bangladesh extends transit to those countries, a
phenomenal change is likely to occur in the economic development and job market.
Unless the current bickering over the handling of the terminal is resolved, the operations will be delayed further affecting the overall functioning of the Chittagong Port.
The government functionaries and ruling party leaders need to stop politicising the port operation issues and let it be managed in an exclusively professional manner.
The Chittagong Port is a major lifeline to Bangladesh economy, making its development and modernisation an absolute necessity. The construction and commissioning of the terminal has been a big and correct, even though late, step in that direction.
It is crucial that the terminal becomes operational now, after three years of construction, by removing the uncertainty brought on by politicising its management.