Though the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) was completed in December last year, it has not become operational yet because vessels are not available, sources in the shipping ministry said. The Pangaon ICT project was taken up jointly by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) in July 2000, to help ease the pressure on cargo movement on the Dhaka-Chittagong railway and highway corridors. The CPA has been appointed as the operator of the Pangaon ICT.
The government has already given approval for 41 vessels to carry containers, Nazrul Islam, member (admin and planning) of CPA, told The Independent on Sunday. Of the approved vessels, 32 would be provided by the private sector, four by the Bangladesh Inland Transport Corporation, three by the Chittagong Port Authority and two by the Bangladesh Navy, he added.
Some operational equipment, including cranes, have already been installed at the Pangaon ICT, Islam said.
“We’re hopeful of starting operations by the end of June or July. We’re procuring three re-conditioned vessels for the Pangaon ICT. We’ve already inspected the vessels in China and Indonesia,” he added, in reply to a query.
Each vessel can carry 120-140 (20 feet) containers, he said, adding, “We’ll begin our ICT operations with three vessels. We hope other vessels will join soon.”
Sources said construction of special vessels for the Pangaon ICT is still at the primary stage.
On the other hand, the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC) would engage four vessels with capacities ranging from 80 to 100 (20 feet) equivalent units (TEUs) containers each, the sources added.
The CPA funded project was scheduled to start in July, 2005 and completed by June, 2007.
The project duration was extended in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 due to bureaucratic tangles and go-slow approach taken by contractors, the sources added.
Initially, the project cost was estimated at about Tk. 114.11 crore in 2005, but it was revised in two phases, the sources said. They added, “The cost was increased to Tk. 154 crore in 2007 and again to Tk. 177 crore in 2009.”
The Pangaon ICT has been built on 64 acres of land of BIWTA, along the river Buriganga in Pangaon. RCC yard, jetties and sheds are being constructed on 35 acres of land, while bank protection work and roads are being built on 29 acres.
The ICT would have a storage capacity of 3,500 TEUs containers and handle 1.16 lakh TEUS containers annually.
More than 10 lakh TEUS containers are handled at Chittagong port annually. Of them, only 10 per cent can be taken to the lone Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Kamalapur in Dhaka by the railway.
-With The Independent input
