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U.S. firm loses legal battle over Bangladesh project

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA May 20. The Bangladesh Supreme Court has rejected the Government's leave to appeal against the High Court verdict that had declared illegal the approval for two private container terminals in Chittagong and Narayanganj, undertaken by the Stevedoring Services of America, Bangladesh (SSA,B).

A full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by the Chief Justice, Mainur Reza Chowdhury, passed the order upholding the High Court verdict while disposing of all the leave petitions preferred by the Government and the U.S. company.

The High Court, in its judgment on November 26 last year, had declared the terminal project illegal, observing that the Government approved the project arbitrarily without paying proper attention and studying its feasibility. The judgment was delivered upon a writ petition in the form of public interest litigation (PIL) filed by four persons, including the former chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority.

The SSA,B, an affiliate of the Seattle-based company, got the Government approval in 1998 for building the biggest-ever private project under foreign direct investment of $438 millions. The project was supposed to be completed by 2008 but it failed to start mainly due to stiff local resistance. The previous Awami League Government felt the need for a private container terminal against the backdrop of growing concern over the inefficient services and frequent labour unrest in Chittagong port. After assuming power in October 2001, the BNP-led four-party alliance formed a high-power committee to further review the project and the committee was convinced that the nod given by the past Government was "more or less transparent.'' So it endorsed the past government's approval.

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