Prime Minister Tarique Rahman Visits Sundarbans and Mongla: Focus on New Jetty, Chinese Economic Zone and LNG Terminal

Prime Minister Tarique Rahman is visiting the Sundarbans and Mongla Port in Bagerhat. During the trip, the Prime Minister will inspect Mongla Port's new jetty, the China economic zone and Sundarbans ecotourism. The visit has raised high expectations among local businesspeople and stakeholders about the future of port-centred trade and industrialisation in the south-western region.

According to the itinerary, on Thursday (October 22) the Prime Minister will leave his residence at 8:30 a.m. for Tejgaon Airport. He will travel by helicopter towards the Sundarbans at 9 a.m. and inspect Hiron Point and the adjacent Sundarbans area from the air at around 10 a.m.

At around 10:30 a.m., the Prime Minister will land at the Nalian Secondary School field in Dakop upazila of Khulna. From there he will travel by waterway towards BNS Mongla. At noon he will reach the BNS Mongla jetty and proceed to the ward room.

After a lunch break there, he will join a meeting at the ward room conference room at 1:45 p.m. In the afternoon he will inspect the overall activities and jetty of Mongla Port. At 3:15 p.m. he will visit the proposed BEZA economic zone area. He will leave the Mongla helipad for Dhaka at 4 p.m. and reach Dhaka at 5 p.m.

It has been learned that the government is planning to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, or floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), at Akram Point in the Sundarbans. There is a plan to bring that gas to Mongla through a pipeline for use in factories in the economic zone.

With the aim of building the terminal, a high-level government delegation led by the shipping minister and the power minister and state minister inspected the Akram Point area last August. The Prime Minister is coming to inspect the site on October 22. If the site is finalised, feasibility studies and other work will begin. The Prime Minister will also inspect the China investment-based special economic zone.

Zulfikar Ali, general secretary of the Mongla Port Berth and Ship Operators Association, said the Prime Minister will inspect the site for the port's new jetty, for which an agreement has been signed with China. Demanding action, he said if the port channel is dredged properly, navigability will increase and large ships will be able to come to this port.

Didarul Alam, president of the Sundarbans tourist traders and launch body owners association, said the Prime Minister can give importance to the Sundarbans' biodiversity and tourism potential for the development of the tourism industry. If modern tourism infrastructure is built, a new door to ecotourism could open.

Habibur Rahman, president of the Mongla Banik Samiti, said there were many hopes around Mongla Port after the Padma Bridge opened. If the Prime Minister's arrival becomes a turning point for trade, commerce and industrialisation across Khulna, Bagerhat and the entire south-western region, it could create new hope.

Mahbubur Rahman Manik, proprietor of port user Jahanara and Sons, said the people of this region will benefit if the long-standing unresolved or infrastructure problems of the Mongla Port area are resolved quickly following the Prime Minister's arrival.

SK Azizul Bari Helal, Member of Parliament for Khulna-4, said coastal development, expansion of port-centred trade and promising economic activities could receive importance during the Prime Minister's visit.

Sheikh Faridul Islam, state minister for environment, forest and climate change, said the Chinese have announced investment in Mongla and have been given an export processing special zone in the Mongla EPZ. There will be direct talks with them about what factories they will build and what benefits Bangladesh will receive. He also thinks making Mongla Port dynamic will receive importance. He added that the Prime Minister's visit will greatly increase the capacity of Mongla Port, the EPZ and industrial areas, and that a bridge over the Mongla River and road communication development will be brought to his attention.

Notably, on October 10 a loan agreement worth US $335.78 million (about Tk 3,592 crore 89 lakh 75 thousand) was signed between the Government of Bangladesh and the Export-Import Bank of China (Exim Bank) for the expansion and modernisation of Mongla Port facilities. On October 12, the Economic Relations Division said that under the agreement, the Chinese government will provide a loan of RMB 2.404 billion for the project.

The loan will be used to implement the project titled 'Expansion and Modernisation of Mongla Port Facilities', taken up by the Mongla Port Authority under the Ministry of Shipping. The agreement was signed by Aliya Meher, joint secretary of the Economic Relations Division, on behalf of the Government of Bangladesh, and Fengjun Tian, assistant general manager of China's Exim Bank. Under the project, two container terminals with modern equipment, a container yard, a container delivery yard and a cargo handling yard will be built, alongside necessary modernisation of the port. After the Prime Minister's visit, attention in the south-western region is now on whether implementation of these plans gains pace.