DP World deal likely to be signed Thursday amid rush to fast-track New Mooring lease
Shafiul Alam
Officials are rushing to sign a deal at lightning speed to give the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) on a long term concession lease. People call the NCT the heart of Chattogram Port. Several top officials of the Ministry of Shipping and Chattogram Port Chairman Mr. S M Moniruzzaman are busy in Dhaka without a break. They are over eager to sign some kind of deal in a hurry. A few businessmen from the old syndicate are pulling the strings behind the scenes. No one has done a study yet to judge the gains and losses of handing New Mooring to a foreign operator.
Sources say officials may sign the disputed New Mooring lease deal later this week. They will sign it with DP World (Dubai Port World), a foreign company based in the United Arab Emirates. The deal will follow the public private partnership (PPP) model. If the signing is delayed for any reason, officials may finish the deal next week. The government has kept the whole process very secret from the start. It is also hiding the likely terms of the deal.
Earlier, under the interim government of Dr. Yunus, the government leased the Panguaon Terminal and the planned Laldia Char Terminal to two foreign companies on long term deals. Chattogram Port’s own money built the Panguaon Terminal. Officials signed that deal in a hurry and in secret at a hotel in Dhaka last year. They kept both the process and the terms hidden. The same pattern is running again this time.
Groups and alliance leaders in the movement against the lease to DP World say the government has approved the draft deal but has not signed it. They say they still trust the Prime Minister to cancel the process for the sake of the country’s economy and security. They want the government to study the gains and losses of the country and start a dialogue if it plans to lease New Mooring. Economists and port experts also see the whole move to lease the New Mooring Terminal to a foreign company as disputed and sensitive. They say the government must ensure openness and accountability before it signs the deal.
In 2024, under fascist Ms. Hasina, the government decided to lease the NCT. The last interim government tried hard to carry out that decision. But Dr. Yunus had to hold back the signing after strong anger and protest. Now the BNP government is moving the disputed issue ahead, and anger and unrest are growing again on a wide scale. The NCT has no room left for new investment, growth or more space. Yet the government has tempted people with a promise of a modernisation plan worth about 205 million dollars. It is also not clear how much money DP World will invest or in which areas it will build.
Those concerned fear that DP World will take out a huge amount of dollars from the regular income of the port. They also fear the port will become far more costly than before. The New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) is the busiest, most capable, most dynamic and most profitable main site of Chattogram Port. It stands right beside a navy base, which makes it very sensitive. The NCT handles about 44 percent of the port’s containers and brings in 60 percent of its income. It plays the main role in the port’s profit. In 2025 and 2026, New Mooring alone handled 3.5 million container units, which is the highest record so far.
New Mooring is also a modern, self reliant terminal built with the port’s own profit. The port bought equipment worth thousands of crores of taka for it from that profit. Chittagong Dry Dock Limited, an institution of the Bangladesh Navy, runs the terminal with skill, openness and speed. The movement against the decision to lease it to the foreign company DP World has been going on for a long time, and it has grown stronger. Last week, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the draft deal to give DP World a long term lease. The movement grew sharper from that day. Anger, unrest and tension now fill Chattogram Port.
The Chattogram Port Protection Committee announced earlier that it will hold a sit in all day today. It will start in the morning in front of the main gate of the Chattogram Port building. The Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, the labour wing of the BNP, and former port CBA leaders are part of the committee. Yesterday, the port, the dock and trade unions and alliances at different levels held a meeting to prepare for the sit in. They called on people of all levels to unite for the country and stand against the lease deal at Chattogram Port. They also asked everyone to make today’s sit in a success from the morning.
Many labour and employee alliances, groups, professionals, and social and political leaders have shown their support for today’s sit in. Chattogram Divisional General Secretary of Sramik Dal Mr. Qazi Sheikh Nurullah Bahar said they will announce a bigger program from there. Another labour and employee alliance in the movement, the Chattogram Port Protection Struggle Council, has announced a torch procession and rally in the port area tomorrow. BNP backed labour leaders Mr. Md. Humayun Kabir and Mr. Ibrahim Khokon lead this alliance. The council has also called on people to join and support the all day sit in at the port gate today.
Meanwhile, the Chattogram Port Islami Sramik Sangha, which the Jamaat backs, held a protest rally and procession yesterday. It made eight demands, including a halt to the plan to hire foreign operators at New Mooring Terminal, CCT and GCB. The group gave a memorandum to the port chairman to press its demands. Speakers at the rally, held in front of the port’s One Stop Crisis Centre, said the plan to hand the key terminals of Chattogram Port to foreign firms worries the workers and employees. They said it also worries them because of the country’s economic and strategic interests. They demanded that the port authority run these sites itself. The group’s President Mr. Mohammad Helal Uddin chaired the rally.
