DHAKA: Saudi developer Red Sea Gateway Terminal on Monday started operations at the Patenga Container Terminal in Chittagong Port, marking the first time a foreign company has run a Bangladeshi port.
The Chittagong Port site is the busiest container port in the Bay of Bengal. It handled about 3.2 million 20-feet equivalent units in the 2021 fiscal year and serves as the main gateway for Bangladesh’s ocean cargo.
The RSGT and Chittagong Port Authority signed a concession agreement in December for the Saudi company to manage and operate the new $240 million Patenga Container Terminal, which is situated in Bangladesh’s largest port, for the next 22 years.
RSGT commenced operations at the terminal on Monday, and CPA was optimistic about the future of its business.
Omar Faruk, secretary of the CPA, told Arab News: “With these new facilities of Patenga Bay Terminal, we are expecting a boost in the world ranking of Chittagong Port.
“The facilities will increase the additional container handling capacity of the site, up to 450,000 (20-feet equivalent container units) annually. It will reduce the waiting time for the ships significantly.”
Under the deal RSGT will equip, operate and maintain the Patenga terminal, which was completed last year. It handles between 5 and 7 percent of Chittagong’s entire operations, the rest of which are handled by the CPA.
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina previously said that Patenga was a “lighthouse of hopes for the economic development of Bangladesh.”
Faruk said: “The new facilities will create some new employment opportunities for Bangladeshis also. Already, 260 new employees have been recruited by the RSGT, and most of them are Bangladeshis.
“It will definitely create a new dimension in our international trading arena.”
RSGT’s deal to operate the Patenga Bay Terminal is just the beginning of other potential projects, Saudi Ambassador to Bangladesh Essa Al-Duhailan told Arab News, adding that investors from the Kingdom have been eager to travel to the South Asian nation to explore various areas of cooperation and investment.
He said: “Bangladesh has political stability and security and good law enforcement, so it attracts many businessmen and many big companies.
“These kinds of projects enhance the relationship, especially in the business field, between Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh.”
