Foreign operator to run Chattogram Port's NCT
New Mooring Container Terminal at Chattogram Seaport. Agamir Somoy.
The government has finalized the decision to operate the Newmooring Container Terminal (NCT), the most important terminal of Chattogram Port, by an international operator.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today, Thursday, gave preliminary approval to a draft concession agreement.
Alongside NCT, the Overflow Yard will also be operated by a foreign operator for 15 years.
Forty-five percent of the total container handling at Chattogram Port is handled by NCT alone. This terminal, operated with the most modern equipment, handles goods the fastest. The largest ships also dock at this terminal.
The Ministry of Shipping proposed this on a public-private partnership basis. The approval was given under the chairmanship of Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, president of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The movement protesting the operation of NCT by domestic and foreign operators has gained considerable momentum.
A week ago, the government party's labor organization, Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, came out openly onto the field in this movement. The Port Protection Committee has announced a sit-in program in front of the Chattogram Port Building on October 5. Various labor organizations and SCOPE, a combined organization of trade unions, are also in the movement.
Kazi Sheikh Nurullah Bahar, divisional organizing secretary of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, said, "What more can we wait for, brother! We are now sitting in a meeting with the workers' organizations. The decision will be known shortly." Engineer Delwar Majumder, convener of the Port Protection Committee, and member-secretary Fazlul Kabir Mintu have expressed strong anger and condemnation at the decision to lease NCT for 15 years.
They said that if any decision is imposed bypassing the country's people in taking decisions regarding the important infrastructure of Chattogram Port, it will not be acceptable. On the question of protecting national resources, the Port Protection Committee will continue its position with the people through peaceful and democratic programs.
