![]() The final blow came in February when Bangladesh called off the project ( Times of India, February 8). A few months later Bangladesh’s Minister for Planning Mostafa Kamal said that the government was reconsidering the project ( Dhaka Tribune, January 11, 2015). ![]() The two sides unexpectedly failed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to Beijing in July 2014. According to former Ambassador and Secretary in Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Humayun Kabir, China’s experience in implementing several mega infrastructure projects in Bangladesh over the past 30 years and proven expertise in construction of deep-sea ports in the region, demonstrated that it could “provide technology, funds and expertise at a competitive rate.” All of these elements worked in China’s favor, and Bangladesh was set to award the contract to the state-owned China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd ( Prothom Alo, June 4, 2014). Other countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Netherlands submitted proposals too, but these proved less attractive to Bangladeshi decision makers ( Prothom Alo, June 4, 2014). It submitted a detailed project proposal and agreed to provide loans to cover a major part of the project cost ( Daily Star, Januand, June 8, 2014). When Bangladesh sought China’s help to build a deep-sea port at Sonadia, the latter responded positively ( Daily Star, October 25, 2010). When the idea of building a new deep-sea port at Sonadia was first conceived in 2006, it was seen as a way to not only overcome the limitations of the Chittagong and Mongla ports but also to transform Bangladesh into a maritime transshipment hub for landlocked Nepal, Bhutan, India’s Northeastern states and China’s Yunnan province ( Daily Star, March 20, 2013,, Jand, June 4). The Bangladeshi government has been keen to build a deep-sea port in the country as its existing ports at Chittagong and Mongla have a shallow draft, are heavily congested and inadequate to meet the mounting needs of its growing economy, which is reliant on sea-borne trade. The port at Sonadia would have been Bangladesh’s first deep-sea port. It would have further eased its dependence on the sea routes transiting the Straits of Malacca. It would have been an alternative to the deep-sea port at Kyaukpyu that Beijing is building to link its underdeveloped southern provinces to the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. China was hoping to design, build and operate the port at Sonadia, which was expected to emerge an important transshipment hub for the MSR ( Daily Observer, September 12, 2015). An Indian Ocean littoral state, it figures in the OBOR’s overland links (via the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar corridor) as well as maritime components. Bangladesh is an important participant in China’s “One-Belt, One-Road” (OBOR) initiative. ![]() A key link in China’s Maritime Silk Road (MSR) suffered a setback in February when Bangladesh’s Awami League (AL) government shelved plans for construction of a deep-sea port at Sonadia, south of Chittagong.
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