Ctg Port: Pro-BNP workers’ groups give two-day ultimatum to halt NCT deal move with DP World

Pro-BNP workers’ organisations of Chattogram Port gave the government a two-day ultimatum to meet four demands, including halting all activities related to leasing out the port’s largest functional facility, New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT), to Dubai-based DP World.

They urged the government to engage foreign firms to develop the non-profitable Payra Port, not the already profitable NCT.

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If their demands are not met within the period, they announced some protest programmes, including staging a human chain and protest processions from September 22.

Leaders of several port-based workers’ organisations under the banner of Chattogram Bandar Rokkha Songram Parishad gave the ultimatum at a press conference at a hotel in the city this noon.

At the press conference, the Parishad leaders also demanded the withdrawal of cases filed against 15 port employees and leaders over previous anti-NCT deal protests in February, the removal of Chattogram Port officials allegedly involved in the NCT deal process since the previous government, and immediate recruitment to fill vacant posts to strengthen the port’s operations.

Reading out a written statement, Parishad Joint Coordinator Ibrahim Khokan criticised recent remarks attributed to the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) chairman, who had said that failure to allow DP World to operate the NCT could affect the employment of 2.3 million Bangladeshi workers in Abu Dhabi.

Khokan, also the general secretary of the Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal Chattogram Port unit, described the statement as “encouraging foreign interests”.

He argued that a concession agreement with a foreign operator to run the NCT would expose the country to long-term economic and security risks.

Khokan claimed that during fiscal year 2025-26, the NCT generated around Tk 4,500 crore in revenue and Tk 2,500 crore in net profit, from which the government received approximately Tk 650 crore each in corporate tax and VAT.

The Parishad leader warned that those earnings would decline if the terminal were leased out, while foreign exchange would flow overseas and jobs at the port could be affected.

He also expressed concern that the terminal could become vulnerable to external influence during periods of political instability.

Parishad Joint Coordinator Humayun Kabir urged Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to have a dialogue with representatives of the protesting workers and employees of Chattogram Port to listen to their objections before taking any decision regarding the NCT deal.

He proposed that the dialogue could be held in coordination with Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and Shipping Minister Sheikh Rabiul Alam.

Kabir claimed that port workers and employees under the current local management have handled a much higher volume of containers at the NCT than DP World has promised to handle.

Nagorik Oikya Chattogram district coordinator Swapan Majumder and Dock Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal General Secretary Taslim Hossain Selim also spoke.

Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad (SKOP) leader Iftekhar Kamal, Marchant Sramik Union President Harunur Rashid, Staff Union leader Mohammad Faiz Ullah, and Winsman Association General Secretary Imam Hossain Khokon were among those present at the press conference.