Construction of a new port would be initiated in near future at Mirsarai, Chattogram, to support the special economic zone, said Chattogram Port Authority chairman Rear Admiral Zulfiqur Aziz on Wednesday.Addressing a view exchange meeting with journalists, marking the 132 anniversary of Chattogram Port Authority, he said that the CPA has done the feasibility study which showed that it was feasible to build a port in Mirsarai, but the project would take time.He said that different international companies proposed it to Bangladesh Export Zone Authority, or BEZA, following which the CPA conducted the feasibility study.The chairman said that by the middle of the next year the construction work of Patenga Container Terminal would be completed. Now the CPA is prioritising three things — expansion of the yard, construction of truck terminal and a flyover which would be a connecting road to be used by vehicles of Chattogram port to end traffic congestion in the main city.Zulfiqur Aziz said that at present the port limit is 54 nautical miles, stretching at the top up to Sitakund and at the bottom till Kutubdia. Due to this increase in port limit, the earning of the CPA also increased.Claiming that there is no ship congestion in Chattogram port, the chairman further said that now container-loaded ships remained anchored in Chattogram port for only 1-2 days.Even some ships have been reaching the jetty without waiting at outer anchorage. But earlier in 2017, ships waited for 7-8 days on an average. The number of ships arrival also increased in Chattogram port, he said. In the year 2018, a total of 3,747 ships called at this port, while in 2017, a total of 3370 ships came to this port.He said that that last year, the CPA bought more than 60 equipment worth of Tk 1000 crore. Among them six were ship to shore gantry cranes to mobilise loading and unloading of containers.The view exchange meeting was held at Shaheed Munshi Abdur Rahman Auditorium.CPA member (admin and planning) Md Zafar Alam, member (engineering) Commodore Khandaker Akter Hossain, director (admin) Md Moninur Rashid and secretary Omar Faruk were also present in the meeting.
