The High Court (HC) on Tuesday set December 4 as the date for its decision on a writ petition challenging the legitimacy of the process of handing over operation of Chattogram port’s New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to a foreign corporation.
A High Court division bench of Justice Fatema Najib and Justice Fatema Anwar set the date following the conclusion of the hearing on the subject.
Senior lawyers Ahsanul Karim, AM Mahbub Uddin Khokon, and Kaiser Kamal argued for the writ petitioner, while Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman and Additional Attorney General Mohammad Aneek Rushd Haque defended the state.
Mirza Walid Hossain, President of the Bangladesh Youth Economist Forum, filed the writ petition in July of this year, citing a newspaper item titled “Everything is in the New Mooring Terminal; why hand it to foreigners?” Was published on April 26. The petition challenged the legitimacy of the agreement mechanism governing NCT’s operation. The High Court announced the rule on July 30, following the initial hearing.
Speaking to media, petitioners’ counsel Ahsanul Karim stated that there was no open tender or competitive bidding when the previous government signed an MoU with UAE-based DP World in 2019 to run the NCT.
“We expected the new government would stop these activities, but the opposite happened,” he stated.
Karim contended that under the PPP law, foreign operators cannot be selected to manage existing infrastructure, and projects under Taka 2,000 crore cannot be undertaken. Ahsanul Karim noted that NCT is a well-established terminal with an annual revenue of more than Taka 500 crore, making it impossible to transfer over its management to a foreign business under PPP.
Following the hearing, Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman told reporters that no final judgement has been reached on NCT.
“Preliminary conversations are underway with a corporation. Presenting this as a final decision is misleading,” he said, adding that the writ is premature because no cause of action has been established.
He further stated that a prior High Court decision had rejected a similar writ regarding another terminal’s operation by a foreign corporation, and the court cannot take a contrary stance.
In response to the argument that the PPP Act requires clearance from the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Attorney General stated that the interim government’s Chief Adviser and Advisers can use those constitutional authorities.
NCT was previously run by Saif Powertec. After the contract expired, the Bangladesh Navy took over operations on July 7, 2025.
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