No plan to scrap deal on Laldia terminal

Shipping Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam yesterday said the government has no plans to “cancel or renegotiate” the agreement to outsource the development and operation of the Laldia Container Terminal at Chattogram Port.

Responding to a query from Shahadat Hossain during the question-and-answer session in Parliament, the minister said the Chittagong Port Authority had signed a concession agreement with Denmark’s APMT BV for the development and operation of the terminal in the upper estuary of the Karnaphuli River.

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He said the letter of award was issued in favour of APMT BV on November 17, 2025, and the concession agreement between the Chittagong Port Authority and APMT BV was signed on the same day.

The agreement is for 33 years, comprising three years for construction and 30 years for operations, with a provision for a further 15-year extension.

“It is worth noting that the terminal is being built on an empty site at Chattogram Port. The addition of the new terminal will increase the capacity of the Chattogram Port, create employment and facilitate technology transfer. The Denmark-based company will invest US$550 million in the terminal. There are no plans to cancel or renegotiate it,” the minister said.

He said the concession agreement for the PPP project titled “Establishment and Operation of Laldia Container Terminal at Chattogram Port through the PPP Model”, being implemented by the Chittagong Port Authority, was signed under the “Public Private Partnership Act, 2015”, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the “Policy for Implementing PPP Projects through Government-to-Government (G2G) Partnership, 2017” and the “Procurement Guidelines for PPP Projects 2018”.

“The agreement has been executed with transparency following the government process. It is a G2G PPP agreement between the government of Bangladesh and the government of Denmark,” he said.

The minister said a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Denmark on June 30, 2021, to develop environmentally friendly and sustainable infrastructure in the Laldia Char area on the right bank of the Karnaphuli River through public-private partnership (PPP), with APM Terminals, a subsidiary of the Maersk Group, implementing the project.

As a follow-up to the MoU, Denmark-based Maersk submitted a proposal on May 21, 2023, expressing its interest in constructing the Laldia Container Terminal.

The project was subsequently presented at the first PPP Joint Platform meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on November 29, 2023.

During the first Bangladesh-Denmark PPP Joint Platform meeting on January 3, 2024, the project received approval from Denmark.

The project was later approved by the Advisory Committee on Economic Affairs (ACEA) on November 12, 2025, and received approval from the then chief adviser on November 16, 2025, the minister added.