Advisor on Shipping and Labor & Employment Affairs Brigadier General (Retd) D. M. Sakhawat Hossain said that Matarbari Deep Sea Port will open a new horizon for international trade. It is not just an infrastructure project, but a strategic investment for the future of Bangladesh.

He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the agreement signing ceremony of the Matarbari Port Development Project of the Chittagong Port Authority, funded by JICA and Chittagong Port, at the Le Meridien Hotel in the capital this morning.

The advisor said, “The opening of Matarbari Port will increase the capacity of large ships (up to about 100,000 DWT), reduce congestion at existing ports, make the supply chain more dynamic, and ensure direct access to the new industrial zone of Cox’s Bazar-Moheshkhali. This will turn Bangladesh into an important energy and transshipment hub.”

The advisor expressed the opinion that under the Package 1 activities, construction of 300 meters long multi-purpose berth/jetty (200 meters long ships), construction of 460 meters long container berth/jetty (350 meters long ships), construction/collection/installation of terminals, buildings, pavement, retaining walls, sea walls, boundary walls, land development, dredging, land reclamation, emergency generators, solar power, terminal utilities and other ancillary works/electrical works, there will be a total of 5100 ground slots for placing containers in the terminal area, it will be possible to berth large container ships with a draft of 14.50 meters and a length of 300 meters with a capacity of about 8200 TEUs at Matarbari Port, and it will be possible to handle an estimated 0.6 to 1.1 million TEUs by 2029 and an estimated 2.2 to 2.6 million TEUs of container cargo by 2041.

He further said, “The cooperation of the Japanese government and JICA will be helpful in making the Matarbari project a reality. JICA’s contribution of technical expertise, financing and capacity building is very important. We are grateful for this cooperation.”

The agreement was signed between the Chairman of Chittagong Port Authority, Rear Admiral S. M. Moniruzzaman (OSP, NDC, NCC, PSC) and the General Manager of Penta Ocean Construction Company Limited, Tomokazu Hasegawa.

The Chief of the Navy, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, representatives of the Japanese Embassy and senior officials of JICA were present at the event.