The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, has said apart from building a deep seaport in Chittagong her government has a plan to construct a seaport in between Barguna and Patuakhali to handle the growing external trade.
The prime minister said this while laying the foundation stone of Sheikh Mujib Maritime University under the ‘Enhancing Marine Academy into Maritime University’ project at a cost of Tk 260 crore on the Marine Academy premises in Chittagong Saturday.
About maritime boundary, she said Bangladesh had lodged its submission formally to the United Nations on Friday claiming an area of more than 400 NM in the seabed of the Bay of Bengal. The foreign minister, Dipu Moni, who is now in the USA, lodged the submission before the UN, she added.
The maritime university which will be established as a regional university in South Asia will start its academic activities in 2013. It is aimed to meet the growing demand of skilled marine manpower at home and abroad with the increase of maritime transportation.
Hasina said her government had taken steps to set up six more marine academies at Barisal, Khulna, Pabna, Rangpur, Narayanganj and Sylhet at a cost of nearly Tk 800 crore.
She said the government was also procuring full-mission deck bridge simulator and full-mission engine control simulator for the Marine Academy at a cost of about Tk 80 crore under another programme.
Hasina said the university would provide masters, M Phil and PhD degrees on Ship Building Engineering, shipping management, international and national maritime transportation and maritime laws.
She said her government had so far raised the number of trainee cadets in the academy to 200 from 100 and had a plan to further raise the number to 500.
She told the function with satisfaction that the International Maritime Organisation had already included Bangladesh with the Philippines, China and India as the rapidly growing and skilled marine manpower supplying country.
Referring to her meeting with IMO secretary general during her recent London visit, she said the IMO had assured Bangladesh of providing all-out cooperation on maritime education and development of maritime management.
The prime minister said her government after assuming office had been working to establish the country’s firm footing in the regional and international shipping as it is encouraging exportable marine vessel and shipbuilding industries.
In this context, she said her government had recognised ship building as a separate industry. ‘After the recognition, we all have remained cautious so that the industry could not leave any negative impact on our environment,’ she added.
The prime minister also referred her government’s programmes of carrying out capital and maintenance dredging in the major rivers to ensure their navigability and measurers to transport goods by river routes across the country.
Regarding food security, she said the present government had been working relentlessly to increase the country’s food production to feed its growing people. Besides, she said her government had also taken steps to keep prices of essentials within the reach of common people.
Shipping minister M Shahjahan Khan, chairman of parliamentary standing committee on shipping Noor-e-Alam Chowdhury, shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Hawlader and Commandant of Bangladesh Marine Academy Sajid Hossain also spoke on the occasion.
Earlier, the prime minister attended the Cadet Graduation Parade of 45th batch of Bangladesh Marine Academy and distributed special merit awards of the academy to the cadets for their outstanding performances.
She also inspected a spectacular march past and took salute of the graduating cadets.
On her arrival on the Marine Academy premises, the prime minister was received by the shipping minister and the commandant of the academy.
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