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The shipping ministry is likely to finalise next week a site for construction of the proposed deep-sea port from amongst the three locations in Cox’s Bazar and Khulna.
   Adviser for shipping MA Matin will hold a site selection meeting with the ministries and departments concerned on March 6 to assess the merits and demerits of the proposed sites and recommend a suitable location for construction of the deep-sea port, said officials in the shipping ministry.
   Earlier, Pacific Consultant International, a Japanese firm appointed by the government last year, named Akram point in Khulna and Maheskhali and Kutubdia in Cox’s Bazar as possible sites for the deep-sea port.
   ‘We will review the proposed sites and would recommend for the most suitable one for construction of the mega port,’ said a senior official of the shipping ministry Monday.
   The official also said that after the site selection, the ministry would send the proposal to the council of advisers, headed by the chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, for approval.
   Pacific Consultant, appointed to conduct a techno-economic-feasibility study for the deep-sea port, has so far submitted review and analysis reports on the present situation of Chittagong and Mongla ports, port administration model and public-private participation model, assessment of market and business opportunities and the proposed sites.
   The consulting firm will also propose a conceptual design and cost estimates, project appraisal and project management model and guarantee of other services after the next phase of the study.
   
   The immediate past BNP-led alliance government had initiated a process in 2005 to build a deep-sea port to ease the growing pressure on Chittagong port in handling containers and cargoes.
   ‘Chittagong port will reach its peak capacity of handling 1.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers and eight million tons of bulk cargo a year in 2012,’ said the market assessment report of Pacific Consultant.
   Eighty per cent of the country’s 18 billion dollar foreign trade is done through Chittagong port, with Mongla sea port handling only 8 per cent.
   The study says the volume of seaborne container traffic through the ports in Bangladesh will rapidly rise in future and is likely to hit 15 million TEUs by 2055 while the volume of general cargo is expected to reach about 31.29 million tons.
   According to the breakdown of the container traffic volume hike estimated by the study, it will increase to 1.36 million TEUs in 2012, 2.55 million in 2020 and 7.40 million in 2035.
   The volume of general cargo is expected to rise to about 8.31 million tons in 2012, 10.55 million tons in 2020, 18.58 million tons in 2035 and 31.29 million tons in 2055.
   As the shipment volume may exceed the combined capacity of the two existing seaports, Chittagong and Mongla, by 2012, thereafter the excess containers will have to be handled at the new deep-sea port, the study said.
   Considering these factors, the study predicts that by 2035 the DSP will become the only international port in the country handling all seaborne containers to and from Bangladesh as well as those of its neighbouring countries.

The British security scoping (investigation) team has expressed satisfaction over security measures taken at the country’s maritime ports under the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code.
   During its weeklong tour since February 17, the four-member delegation visited the maritime ports of Chittagong and Mongla and held meetings with the shipping ministry, Bangladesh Navy, National Board of Revenue and Bangladesh Coastguard to review the overall implementation of the ISPS code.
   Led by Stkevin Aoliveo, the team which left Dhaka on Saturday also showed interest in providing training on security, although the Bangladesh side had not taken any decision in this regard, sources in the shipping ministry said.
   After visiting cargo handling and security of outgoing vessels at the two seaports and holding talks with the government high ups, the British security scoping team expressed satisfaction over the progress of ISPS implementation.
   It also appreciated the progress of overall activities of the shipping department and the DA (designated authority) committee, also the local agent of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to implement the code in Bangladesh, the sources added.
   ‘The visit of the security scoping team would put a significant impact on ensuring the port’s security and help to continue the export-import trade between Bangladesh and other countries,’ an official of the shipping ministry told New Age on Friday.
   He also said Bangladesh should not allow the British scoping team to provide training on security as the issue was related to country’s internal security.
   The Bangladesh authorities, however, emphasised the importance of proper utilisation of the existing training in the workplaces of the security personnel and proper use of the safety equipment available here.
   A member of the seven-member DA committee said the scoping team reviewed the documents regarding the ISPS code which had already been implemented successfully in Bangladesh and the IMO expressed its satisfaction over the implementation process earlier.
   The Chittagong and Mongla Port authorities had introduced the ISPS code along with 11 other Key Point Installations on July 1, 2004 as per the instruction of the IMO.
   The IMO in June 2004 made the shipping directorate as its local agent to coordinate the activities along with nine other monitoring agencies, including the navy, coastguard, police and other law enforcing agencies to implement the code formally.
   The two maritime ports and the other KPIs formally introduced the code on completion of the port facility security assessment plan.
   The other KPIs that implemented the code include the Chittagong Urea Fertiliser jetty, KAFCO, Eastern Refinery Ltd, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, three oil marketing companies — Padma, Meghna and Jamuna — TSP Complex, Customs House and Shah Amanat International Airport.

The Chinese government wants free, fair and neutral elections to establish a democratic government in Bangladesh, the Chinese ambassador, Chai Xi, said on Monday.
   The outgoing ambassador made the remarks when he made a farewell call on the Awami League president, Sheikh Hasina, at her Sudha Sadan residence.
   ‘China wants a free and fair election in the country through which a democratic government could be formed,’ the Awami League general secretary, Abdul Jalil, said quoting Chai Xi as saying to Hasina during more than an hour-long meeting.
   The Chinese envoy told reporters that he expressed his sincere hope for stability and prosperity of Bangladesh.
   Chai Xi said the Communist Party of China had a long and historical party-to-party relationship with the Awami League and he expressed his desire to strengthen the relationship between the two country countries as well as the two parties. He hoped the Awami League president would visit China again as the chief of her party delegation.
   Considering Bangladesh as his second home, Chai Xi said it was very painful for him to say goodbye to Bangladesh. ‘But, I have to do it.’
   Jalil said they discussed the relationship between the Awami League and the Communist Party of China and hoped the relationship would be strengthened in future. ‘As prime minister, Hasina took our relationship to a new height,’ he observed. Hasina recalled Chai Xi’s contributions during his tenure as ambassador to Bangladesh.
   Awami League leaders Kazi Zafarullah, Obaidul Kader, Syed Abul Hossain and former ambassador Mohammad Ziauddin were present at the meeting.

The drivers of the Chittagong City Corporation had been pilfering fuel worth more than Tk 10 crore a year reportedly in connivance with a section of officials at the mechanical department.
   Two corporation engineers, arrested by the army-led joint forces in connection with fuel pilfering on Sunday, divulged the information during primary interrogation. They had been receiving Tk 300 a day from each driver to provide ‘slip for extra fuel’.
   Each driver of the 200 fuel-run vehicles had been selling fuel worth Tk 1,500 a day, causing a loss of Tk 3 lakh to the corporation, sources in the forces quoted the engineers as saying.
   ‘Top officials of the corporation were getting share from the bribes received from the drivers to let them pilfer fuel,’ the arrested engineers were quoted to have told the forces.
   The forces had reportedly quizzed the chief engineer, Mokhter Alam, in connection with fuel pilfering. However, he could not be reached to make comment on the issue despite repeated attempts on Monday.
   Sources in the corporation said there are more than 300 vehicles, including garbage truck, car, pickup, jeep and microbus, at its transport pool and 100 of them were converted into CNG.
   They also alleged that the authorities concerned were not taking necessary measures to convert all the vehicles into CNG-run ones in an ill-motive to keep fuel pilfering on.
   The forces arrested two drivers — Shah Alam, 47 and Abdur Razzak, 40 — while they were selling fuel at a shop at the Sagorika area in Pahartoli on Sunday.
   Based on their statements, the forces also arrested executive engineer Joy Sen Barua and assistant executive engineer Syed Abul Hasnat at the mechanical department of the corporation.
   The arrested drivers and engineers had been suspended from their jobs and divisional cases filed against them, corporation sources said, adding that a three-member committee had also been formed to investigate the fuel pilfering.

Downsizing the manpower and purchasing new aircraft are some of the options to be recommended by a government committee to make Biman Bangladesh Airlines commercially viable.
   The recommendations were discussed Monday at the first meeting of the committee for restructuring the national flag carrier.
   ‘We are going to recommend that the government purchase four Boeing carriers for Biman and downsize its manpower to run the national airlines viably,’ said Shahid Alam, the civil aviation secretary who chaired the meeting.
   Biman managing director MA Momen was also present at the meeting, which also proposed that Biman should purchase 25 per cent of its fuel from state-owned petroleum corporation on cash payment and import the rest directly.
   Biman authorities were considering removal of around 2000 employees, according to meeting sources.
   The meeting also weighed the option of turning Biman into a public limited company.
   Biman, blamed for its chronic loss, poor service and non-payment of oil bills to Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, earlier projected a financial loss of Tk 980 crore in the current fiscal, but the civil aviation secretary hoped that the loss would come down to Tk 450 crore.
   Presently, Biman has over 5000 employees and officials to operate flights on 25 global and three domestic routes with its 13-plane fleet that includes five ageing DC-10s, four Airbus-310s and four Fokker-28s.

The chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, leaves for Pakistan today on a 10-day private visit.
   He will be accompanied by his wife Zarnigar Chowdhury during the tour, sources in the ACC said.

Journalists were barred from entering the Anti-corruption Commission headquarters at Segunbagicha on Monday, a day after the newly-appointed chairman and two members took offices declaring war against corruption.
   Security personnel asked journalists not to enter into the commission office, citing order from the authorities concerned.
   When contacted, the reception staff said deputy director administration Omar Faruque ordered them not to allow any journalist inside.
   Faruque declined to talk to journalists, but informed them through the receptionist that commission secretary Delwar Hossain would talk to the media later.
   Delwar, while entering the office at 6pm, told the waiting reporters that he should not talk to the media since the commission had already been reconstituted.
   Asked about the embargo on journalists’ entrance, he said the chairman of the commission, Hasan Mashhud Chowdhury, told commission officials that the commission needed to maintain secrecy for its smooth functioning.
   Mashhud also said that the commission would provide the journalists with all possible information after a few days, but not right now, said the secretary.
   The reporters, however, could manage to reach Surat Amin, a director, at her room after 5 pm.

The police rescued two brothers from the city’s Kafrul area about eight hours after their abduction from Shyamoli in the evening on Sunday.
   The police said that the two teenage boys, Likhon and Sohel, sons of a businessman Abdus Sobhan, were abducted from Shyamoli Road No 2 on their way to their residence at West Agargaon at about 6:30pm on Sunday.
   The abductors demanded ransom for their release.
   On receipt of the information, the police started searching for the boys and rescued them from a house at Kafrul at about 2:00am on Monday.
   The police also arrested four youths—Mohsin, Mehedi Hasan and Faisal—in connection with the abduction.

Sangbadik-Sramik-Karmachari Oikya Parishad in an emergency meeting on Monday demanded that the caretaker government should immediately publish the gazette of the 6th wage board.
   Chaired by parishad’s co-convener Mozammel Haq, the meeting expressed dismay at the government’s failure to publish the gazette within a month of submitting final recommendations of the 6th wage board to the information ministry.
   The meeting also discussed matters relating to a letter issued by the ministry. Co-conveners Manjurul Ahsan Bulbul and Fazle Imam, member-secretary Ruhul Amin Gazi, joint member-secretaries Md Motiur Rahman Talukder and Abdul Jalil Bhuiyan and members Abul Hashem, Khairul Islam, Altaf Mahmud, Elahi Newaz Saju, Omar Faruk and Sarder Farid were present in the meeting.

A case was lodged against a guard of the Barisal central jail on Sunday afternoon for taking bribe in the name of giving employment.
   Court sources said Shima Rani Das, a resident of Vatikhana in the Barisal city, lodged a case with the sadar upazila magistrate court against Zakir Hossain, guard of the Barisal central jail.
   Shima alleged that Zakir took Tk 60,000 from her in the name of appointing Tulu Rani Das, sister of the complainant, as a female jail guard. Zakir, however, failed to fulfill his promise and denied to give back the money. He also forced Shima to sign a blank non-judicial stamp, when she went to jail compound for taking back the amount on February 21.
   The court ordered the authorities concerned to accept the case according to the law after proper investigation.
   Zakir was not available for comment while his family members denied the allegation.

An underground party leader was shot dead allegedly by his rivals at Khandaker village under Chatmahor upazila in Pabna Sunday night.
   The deceased was identified as Shahjahan Ali, 35, a leader of Purba Banglar Communist Party (ML-Lal Pataka), and a resident of Jagannathpur village under the upazila.
   The police quoting the family members said a gang of assailants abducted Shahjahan from his house at gunpoint and shot him to death at about 10:30pm.
   The Chatmahor police recovered the body and sent it to the Pabna General Hospital orgue for autopsy. Shahjahan was wanted in a number of criminal cases, including three for murders, the police said.
   The Purba Banglar Communist Party (Janajuddha) claimed the responsibility for the killing over telephone to local newspaper office.