The authorities have started sending request for proposal (RFP) documents to five short-listed global port giants to submit offers for building the Laldia multipurpose terminal in Chattogram, officials said.
The $500 million terminal will be built on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis.
Consultants for the Laldia terminal have recently finalised the RFP documents and got it vetted at a coordination meeting held at the PPP Office.
The short-listed foreign companies are Global Ports Services Ltd (Singapore), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (India), China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd, Bolloré SA (France), and DP World FZE (United Arab Emirates).
These five were selected from a good number of companies who submitted request for qualification (RFQ) in June 2017.
The terminal is expected to be built on nearly two-and-a-half-kilometres area on the north bank of the Karnaphuli River.
The multipurpose terminal will have four jetties--two for container vessels and two for bulk cargo carriers.
The company, which will construct the terminal, will operate it for 25 years before handing over to the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA).
Director general of the PPP Authority Abul Bashar had earlier told the FE the RFP documents will be prepared in consultation with short-listed companies.
This was preceded by a bidders' conference in May, which discussed the terms and conditions on the operation of the terminal, the extent of productivity of the terminal, and the royalty sharing of the port authority.
Meanwhile, the port authority has taken a number of projects, including the construction of a good number of terminals that include Bay Terminal, Laldia Multi-purpose Terminal, Patenga Container Terminal, and Karnaphuli Container Terminal.
Besides, the port authority has collected a significant number of equipment including ship to shore gantry cranes, rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes, high straddle carriers, reach stackers, forklift trucks, and container movers.
Chittagong port handles over 92 per cent of the total seaborne trade of in bulk and containerised forms.
The port has been seeing over 10 per cent growth annually during the last couple of years but its capacity has not increased significantly.
In 2018, the Chittagong port handled some 2.9 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) of containers against 2.56 million TEUs in 2017. The port has built in capacity to handle 1.7 million TEUs of containers.
Shipping secretary Abdus Samad told the FE on Thursday the construction work of Laldia terminal will start shortly.
He said the capacity of Chittagong port will increase significantly once the terminal is built.
