Staff Reporter:
The BNP-affiliated Bandar Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal has announced eight-hour work abstention at the Chattgoram port on Saturday and Sunday, demanding the government cancel agreements with foreign companies on controlling container terminals.
If the government does not pay heed to the protests, stringent measures, including indefinite shutdown from Monday, would be announced, the group’s leaders warned at a press conference held in the port city’s Agrabad area on Thursday.
Protests were raging across the port area on Thursday after the High Court (HC) gave its final verdict on the matter. The HC stated that it is legal for the government to lease out the New Mooring Container Terminal of Chattogram Port to an overseas company.
The single bench of Justice Jafor Ahmed ruled the process legal, effectively discarding the writ filed against the move.
Anowar Hossain, a lawyer of the writ petitioner, told reporters that a petition was subsequently filed with the Appellate Division, calling for suspension of the HC verdict.
Senior Advocate Ahsanul Karim also represented the writ petitioner on Thursday. Additional Attorney General Anik R Haque represented the state.
The protesters said the government is using the High Court verdict as a “cover” to hand over the strategic seaport to foreigners. The move “endangers national security” and harms the “nation’s economic potentials,” protest leaders including Humayun Kabir and Ibrahim Khokon said.
The country has its own capacity to handle the port’s container terminals, and yet the government has chosen foreigners in “an unlawful direct selection process,” they alleged.
They are ready to “give their lives” to protect the port from foreigners, they said. Security has been beefed up in and around the port, but any untoward incident is yet to be reported.
Writ dismissed
Mirza Walid Hasan, president of a young economists’ forum, filed the writ last year, challenging the container leasing process that began under the Awami League regime in 2019.
Under the Awami League administration, the state-run Public Private Partnership (PPP) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with UAE’s DP World to operate the New Mooring Container Terminal on a contractual basis.
Mirza Walid Hasan’s writ challenged the continuation of talks under the MoU, stating that the leasing to a single foreign company bypassing competitive bidding violates regulations.
On 4 December, a two-member High Court bench gave a divided verdict over the matter. The Chief Justice then sent the writ to Justice Jafor Ahmed for final disposal.
Justice Jafor Ahmed the leasing process, excluding bidders, is consistent with the provisions allowed under the 2017 procurement policy.
The New Mooring Container Terminal was constructed in 2017 and is currently being operated by the Bangladesh Navy’s Chittagong Dry Dock Ltd.
