A technical committee, formed by the government, on May 28 recommended Sonadia Island as the best site for the construction of the proposed deep sea port. The committee, headed by AKM Shafiullah, director general of shipping, at a meeting formally recommended the site of the deep sea port to ease the pressure on Chittagong Port.

‘We will send the proposal shortly to the advisory council for approval,’ said an official of the shipping ministry. Sonadia Island and Kutubdia Channel in the Bay of Bengal were short-listed by Pacific Consultants International, a Japanese firm, appointed by the government in 2006 for carrying out a techno-economic feasibility study. The deep sea port will need Tk 42,000 crore to be completed in three-phases by 2055.

The technical committee selected Sonadia as the most suitable site after considering factors such as the quality of land, distance from the sea, exposure to earthquake and seaquake, environmental aspects and access to utility services. ‘The cost of land development will be low, siltation and sedimentation are negligible, manoeuvring of ships will be easier and further expansion of the port can be done in both directions if it is built in Sonadia,’ said the committee’s report. The BNP-Jamaat government began thinking in 2005 of building the deep sea port to ease the growing pressure on Chittagong Port in handling containers and cargoes.