PM Lays Foundation Stone for Tk 4,068 Crore Mongla Port Upgrade
Bangladeshi Talents · 5 November 2026 · 2 min read
Prime Minister Tarique Rahman laid the foundation stone on 5 November for a Tk 4,068 crore project to expand and modernise Mongla Port in Bagerhat. The plan centres on two new container jetties and supporting yards, and is due for completion by December 2028.
The Prime Minister said the port could become an economic hub for the southwestern and northwestern regions, and that container trains from the Kamalapur Inland Container Depot in Dhaka would be able to run directly to Mongla once the project is finished.
The numbers
- Cost: Tk 4,068.23 crore, approved by ECNEC in February 2025. The government covers Tk 475.33 crore.
- Financing: A $335.78 million concessional loan from the Export-Import Bank of China, signed on 10 October at 2 percent interest and repayable over 20 years, including a five-year grace period.
- New capacity: Jetties 10 and 11, with a combined 368 metres of quay, designed to handle about 394,000 TEUs a year.
- Equipment: 49 pieces of equipment, expected to handle more than 30 containers an hour.
- Current traffic: 29,700 TEUs and 1.22 crore tonnes of cargo in FY2025-26, according to The Daily Star. Overall capacity is projected to reach 1.5 crore tonnes a year.
China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), is the contractor. Invest Bangladesh and CRCC also signed a memorandum of understanding in Mongla on infrastructure cooperation.
Why it matters for professionals
For shipping, freight forwarding and supply-chain teams, a stronger container gateway at Mongla would widen routing options beyond Chattogram. A direct rail link would matter most to importers and exporters around Dhaka, while the southwest stands to gain port-services and logistics work if the hub plan holds.
What to watch next
- The start of construction, which the port authority says follows the foundation-stone ceremony
- Progress on the port's five-year Pashur Channel dredging programme
- Whether the port gets a scanner facility, which The Daily Star says it lacks today
- Rail plans for the Kamalapur link
Sources
- Dhaka Tribune
- The Daily Star (project details)
- The Daily Star (ceremony)
- The Business Standard
- Maritime Gateway (financing)
- Maritime Gateway (jetties)
Cover photo: Containers at Mongla Port by Nahian shuvo / Wikimedia Commons, cropped (CC BY-SA 4.0)
