Deep seaport
We Bangladeshis are one- track-minded people. We have put all our eggs into one basket in Dhaka which now has become an unmanageable city. We have developed only one port to meet all our trading needs. The country is now in an economic take off stage. I am sure that if our politicians do not mess it up, then we will surely be a middle income country in the next five to ten years, and during this period our trade will increase manifold. Under political government, our port is unable to perform satisfactorily and cannot meet the trading needs of the country. If the situation remains as is common during political government, we will not be able to handle our trading needs and the country's trade will come to a standstill.
It takes about fifteen to twenty years from ground breaking stage to have a reasonably operational port. There is no magic wand that can cut that time down to two to three years. So if we have to have uninterrupted trade then we have to start building the deep seaport without any further delay.
We could take Chinese help to develop our deep seaport. Chinese have helped Pakistan to build a deep seaport at Gwadar in Baluchistan coast. They are helping Sri Lanka to develop a port in the southern coast of Sri Lanka. They are also helping Myanmar to build a port in the Bay of Bengal side of Myanmar.
Efficient port facilities are very important for any developing economy and we just can not afford to ignore this fact if we want to see our country as a developed country.
I would suggest that along with the deep seaport we have a Special Economic Zone comprising the districts of Cox' Bazaar and Bandarban. With the deep seaport a big airport capable of handling largest aircrafts should also be constructed. The SEZ will have to be under a self sufficient governing authority as that will help decide matters quickly and will be attractive to the foreign investors. If we develop the deep seaport with the SEZ it will create job opportunities for millions of Bangladeshis and this will help us become a prosperous country.
This SEZ will be a economic hub for the region and the deep seaport could handle the trading needs of our neighbours. We could even be a main line container terminal port. This will eliminate the feeder service cost and our goods will be more competitive in the international market.
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