China-built Mongla Port expansion project breaks ground in Bangladesh

Groundbreaking for the Mongla Port modernization and expansion project, a landmark Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure cooperation project in Mongla, southwestern Bangladesh, took place on Thursday, with a Chinese company serving as the main constructor.

The inauguration marked an important outcome of deeper China-Bangladesh cooperation and a key step for the South Asian country to improve its national transport and logistics system and raise the level of its opening-up.

The project will make use of about 368 meters of shoreline and build two 20,000-deadweight tonnage container berths, together with about 227,000 square meters of container yard space, a container freight station, an integrated command and control center and related support facilities, the Global Times learned from China Civil Engineering Construction Corp (CCECC), the project's engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

Mongla Port is a major gateway linking southwestern Bangladesh to international markets. The designed annual container throughput of Mongla Port is 350,000 20-foot equivalent units, with Chinese standards, technology and equipment being applied. The construction period is about 42 months.

Once completed, the project will markedly raise the port's specialized and modern container-handling capacity, strengthen the overall carrying and logistics support capacity of Bangladesh's port system, and promote efficient connections among maritime shipping and road and rail transport, while also bringing down trade and logistic costs.

Through this, the project will provide major support for the South Asian economy to boost its export competitiveness, and create better conditions for industrial development and local people's livelihoods, CCECC told the Global Times on Thursday.

In broader terms, the Mongla Port will be developed into a modern hub linking the Bay of Bengal and radiating across South Asia, the company said.

The Chinese company said that it will also develop in parallel the China-Bangladesh Mongla Port Economic Zone, coordinating port construction with park development to attract manufacturing, warehousing and logistics, and port-adjacent industries.

"This is intended to create a virtuous cycle in which the port supports the park and industry feeds cargo growth at the port, further unlocking the development potential of southwestern Bangladesh, creating local jobs and skills, and turning upgraded port capacity into tangible gains in industrial development and regional prosperity," the company said.

CCECC also stressed that it aims to make the project a demonstration of high-quality BRI cooperation and an important platform for mutually beneficial China-Bangladesh cooperation.

Bangladesh was the first South Asian country to respond to the China-proposed BRI, and bilateral cooperation under the framework has taken root and borne fruit in recent years. China has remained Bangladesh's largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years and has granted zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent of Bangladesh's tariff lines for exports to China through 2028.

Global Times