Close on heels of reports that suggested that delays (in project implementation) continue to plague Payra Port even as the cost also continues to shoot up, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has, reportedly, asked the Payra Port Authority to prepare a detailed work plan.
It may be mentioned that the Government has decided to build the Payra Port to ease pressure from the Mongla Port and Chittagong Port (Chittagong port handles bulk of Bangladesh’s exports including readymade garments).
Speaking to the media after a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC), Planning Minister MA Mannan, reportedly, maintained that Sheikh Hasina has instructed the port authority to place the total work plan in the next meeting of the ECNEC even as media reports, citing sources within the concerned ministry, underlined that instructions have also been given to provide a picture of the port’s existing situation, list of major problems facing authorities implementing projects involving the port and the total progress so far.
Also Read: Delays hit Payra Port!
Reports further suggest that the project was undertaken in the beginning of January 2019 and due to be completed by December 2021. However, the ECNEC also approved a revised proposal for a project that sought more time and to increase the cost for building the port’s first terminal and related infrastructure while the revised cost has been put at Taka 4,516.75 crore and completion deadline June 2023 even as only around 7 per cent of the project has been completed so far in the past two years.
