DHAKA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's highest economic policy-making body has approved a bay terminal expansion project worth over 1 billion taka (about 700 million U.S. dollars) for the country's largest Chattogram seaport, a senior official said here Sunday.

Md Omar Faruk, secretary of Bangladesh's Chittagong Port Authority (CPA), told Xinhua that the Bay Terminal Marine Infrastructure Development Project was approved at a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) chaired by Chief Adviser of the Bangladeshi interim government Muhammad Yunus.

He said the CPA will now go for floating international tenders to engage contractors for the marine infrastructure development.

Of the total 135.25 billion taka project cost, he said 41.92 billion taka will come from the CPA's own funds, while the remaining 93.33 billion taka is expected from foreign loans.

According to the official, the World Bank has already approved 650 million dollars for the construction of a wave-preventing breakwater and dredging of the access channel, two major components of the project.

The project features two container terminals and a multipurpose terminal spanning around 4 km along the coastline of the Bay of Bengal in Chattogram city, some 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka.

According to project documents, a total of 13 jetties will be constructed, and to protect the terminal from rough sea conditions, a 6.217-km breakwater will be built.

The Port of Chattogram, located on the Karnaphuli River in southeastern Bangladesh, is the largest and busiest port in the South Asian country. It handles around 90 percent of Bangladesh's entire international seaborne trade. (1 U.S. dollar equals about 122 taka). Enditem

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