Newly Graduated Journalist Tries Their Hand at Rewriting:
So, like, there was this dude, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, who said some stuff about the Chattogram seaport and all that jazz. He was like, who’s gonna take the boat, who’s gonna sail with the cargo ships. It’s all a big mystery, you know?
People in Bangladesh are all about that seaport life. They totally get the business side of things. When it comes to jobs, they’re like, why even bother with a job, you know? My parents run a shop, so I’m just chilling at the shop. They don’t even think about jobs. They’re all about doing business, both locally and internationally. Whoever has a small boat will sail with a small boat. I remember seeing ships coming in filled with goods, especially rice and paddy from Burma. I saw it in the canal next to our house. Our blood runs with the blood of the seaport. Chattogram is like the backbone of this seaport life.
If we let them go, if we let them slip away from our grasp, we’ll see not just Bangladesh, but the whole world taking notice. People from Noakhali, people from Sylhet. Today, people from Sylhet are boarding that ship to go abroad. They’ve been cooking, they’ve been on fire, they’re spreading all over the world. If they spread their wings like that, those who are thinking about getting involved in port management in Bangladesh need to think about where they will go. No port in the world will survive without Bangladeshis. They’ll provide top-class service. That’s our future. It’s in our blood, it’s in our heritage. We shouldn’t neglect it. We don’t need to wait long. Our economy will flourish if we can transform the Chattogram port into a massive hub. If the port facilities are provided and the area is expanded, any businessman will come here to invest. They don’t need to be invited. They’ll come on their own. We’ve talked about digitization. Everything is needed. But first, we need our dreams. What we will do. Along with this, Bangladesh’s economy will start changing rapidly.
On Wednesday morning at the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) Yard Number 5 of the Chattogram port, the chief advisor made some directive statements to the port workers. The chief advisor was like, the situation at the Chattogram port. I’m talking about a port, a few terminals in our country. In many countries, there are like 20-30 ports, terminals filled with global-sized stuff. On the other hand, when we look at it, we feel very small. This port, this heart (port), won’t survive for long if the patients don’t get treated here. It won’t be sustainable. That’s our challenge.
Sometimes I hear questions about bringing in foreigners. Are you going to India for healthcare! Go in groups! When there’s a lockdown, why aren’t they going? If the papers are flipped, you’ll see leaders going to Singapore for medical treatment, to the bank for medical treatment. But the port – no, no one will be able to come here anymore. Brother, we need healthcare. We need treatment at this heart. So, foreign doctors need to be brought in. We have no choice. The best thing is Build, Operate, and Transfer. You guys build and work, and within this deadline, you have to transfer it to us. So, the job is done, and the money is made. When they start working, they manage hundreds of ports around the world. They are the best in the world. When they take charge of the port, we won’t build like us. This is their port. They have to work to earn money. They have brought out the latest technology, the latest experience they have built elsewhere. So that they can quickly make money, they can raise more money. They have built machinery, at the end of the deadline, we can run it. We didn’t spend our money. We didn’t need our experience. They started with their experience. We started from the top of technology, not from the end. That’s how we got it.
They say, those who are coming, are they bringing people from their country? If we run the port, our people will run it. There’s no difference. Our people will run it. We need to teach our people so that they can easily learn. It’s cost-effective. If workers come from Europe to run the port, that business will collapse. The port will grow bigger, the capacity will increase. Even with technology, where one person used to be enough, now five people will be needed because the port has become bigger. I’m telling you, even if we sign today, it will take five years to manage the port. Let’s say 2030. At full speed, work will start five years after today. Our people will be experienced. Gradually, they will trust them. I guarantee that in 2031, they will be efficient, everything will start in 2036. The top companies in the world will be managed by Bangladeshis in many countries and many ports around the world. We have the power to understand quickly. You will see that when you step into a port, you will see Bangladeshis managing it. Where are they from? From the Chattogram port. Will jobs decrease or increase? We don’t want to understand why. People will do it for their own needs. I don’t have to go around begging for jobs. Those who work well will take their families with them. Any place that becomes vacant will get another Bangladeshi job. This is a huge opportunity for us.
They say, one day you will see that all the ports in the world will be run by Bangladeshis. We’ve been waiting for that day. I believe we can quickly sign the contracts and start the work. Many days have passed. We don’t have the opportunity to wait. The longer we wait, the more pressure this heart will endure, one day it will collapse. We won’t be able to bear it. So, in this situation, we hand it over to the doctors. Let them build for us. We’ve learned and understood the work from them. We can do a lot better than what we’ve received. So that everyone remembers how Bangladeshis manage ports in business everywhere. We can uncover that hidden secret, how to run a port.
Bangladesh Time: 1335 hours, May 14, 2025.