NEW DELHI: China's plan to further its strategic interests in the Bay of Bengal and beyond through gaining control of the seaports in Bangladesh has run into a roadblock with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government awarding contracts to other global port operators to modernise the country's ports, according to a report.
The article on the Bricklane News portal said that during Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's visit to Beijing last June, it was decided that China would develop the Mongla Port. Two state-of-the-art container jetties equipped with modern machinery would be constructed at Mongla Port under a China-funded project to enhance the handling capacity of the port. Now in a latest move, the Chittagong Port Authority has entered into an agreement for 30 years with the Maersk Group of Denmark, one of the leading terminal operators of the world, to design, finance, build and operate the Ladia Container Terminal at the Chittagong Port under a public-private-partnership framework. Lately, successive governments in Dhaka have been avoiding total reliance on China for the development of seaports in Bangladesh by involving other foreign players. Both the agreements for the development of Matarbari Port with concessional loans from Japan Overseas Cooperation Agency and for the development of Ladia Container Terminal in Chittagong with the Maersk Group of Denmark were signed in 2025 when the interim government was in charge. Former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had also taken note of the Indian sensibilities against increased Chinese commercial and technical presence at or near maritime assets of Bangladesh due to their strategic proximity to India and had refused to sanction the setting up of a deep seaport at Sonadiah with Chinese assistance. (IANS)