bdnews24.com :Japan is set to start construction work at Matarbari, site of a proposed deep seaport in Cox’s Bazar district off the southeastern coast of Bangladesh, by ‘early next year’.Sources at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) confirmed that the work will possibly start as early as January 2016 at Matarbari in Maheshkhali Upazila.The port will have a draft of around 18 metres, more than two to three times that available in Bangladesh’s existing ports in Chittagong and Mongla.The poor draft means bigger ships have to offload cargo in deep sea, which is then carried by lighterage vessels to the ports. That means higher port handling expenditure and that plays into the competitiveness of Bangladesh’s exports.JICA is already financing Tk 290 billion of the Tk 360 billion project to build a 1200 megawatt coal-based power plant at Maheshkhali-the country’s most expensive power project so far.Bangladesh government okayed the ‘Matarbari 2×600 Megawatt Ultra Super Critical Coal Fired Power Project’ in August last year. In January this year, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) first confirmed the possibility of selecting Matarbarhi as an alternative site for the much-talked-about deep seaport project at Maheshkhali’s Sonadia.China had earlier offered to built a deep sea port at Sonadia and an agreement was expected during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Beijing last year.But that did not happen and there was much speculation that someone other than China may be in consideration for the project.But after the PMO discussed considering another site for a deep seaport, officials quickly checked on Matarbarhi’s viability. In February, chief executive officer of Deep Seaport Cell Captain Shariful Ahsan was accompanied by a secretary of Prime Minister’s Office on a visit to Matarbari to check on the viability of the proposed project.During the visit, they also checked the land records of Matarbari. In April, Finance Minister AMA Muhith announced Japan was “very much interested” to build the proposed deep seaport at Matarbari.
