DHAKA, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- A Saudi company Wednesday signed a concession agreement with the Bangladeshi government to manage and operate the Patenga Container Terminal or PCT in the South Asian country's seaport city Chattogram.

The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) signed the agreement with Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Gateway Terminal International (RSGT) to operate the newly-built PCT on PPP (public-private partnership)-G2G (government to government) basis for the next 22 years.

CPA Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Sohail and Chief Executive Officer of RSGT Jeans O. Foley inked the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih witnessed the signing ceremony at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in Dhaka.

The RSGT is an international terminal operator representing a partnership with the Malaysian Mining Company (MMC).

The PCT, some 242 km southeast of the national capital Dhaka, is situated on over 32 acres of land with three jetties of a total length of 600 meters. It can handle an additional five lakh TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers annually.

Three vessels with 11-meter draft will be able to berth at a time in the terminal and also at the shortest possible time for its close proximity to the estuary of Karnaphuli river beneath, which was constructed by China as South Asia's first underwater tunnel.

The Chinese-built Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Tunnel in Bangladesh, the first under-river tunnel in South Asia, opened to traffic in October this year. Enditem

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