An 11-member technical mission of the World Bank reached Chattogram port today to discuss various aspects of proposed Bay Terminal, a mega project taken to enable the port accommodate larger ships.

Earlier this year, the international lender expressed interest to give around $350 million in loan for breakwater construction and channel dredging of the Bay Terminal, which will be constructed on around 2,500 acres of land at Patenga in Chattogram.

The World Bank delegation led by its Senior Transport Specialist Hua Tan will be engaged in discussions with senior port officials until September 8, according to the sources in Chattogram Port Authority (CPA).

The team, however, will stay in the country until September 12 as they have scheduled meetings on other projects at the shipping ministry and other offices in Dhaka.

The WB team today sat in a meeting with CPA Chairman Rear Admiral Mohammad Shahjahan and later hold a meeting with senior CPA officials.

Officials from different departments, including CPA civil engineering, planning, marine, hydrography and traffic, attended the meeting.

It is a routine visit of the World Bank technical mission to see progress and discuss different aspects of the project before approving the loan for the Bay Terminal, the CPA chairman told The Daily Star.

In a major development, the government on Wednesday approved a proposal of the CPA to appoint a German joint venture as consultant for the works of the terminal.

Earlier in April this year, the CPA appointed Korean joint venture of Kunhwa Engineering and Consulting Co Ltd, Korean and Daeyoung Engineering Co Ltd Korea as consultant for the construction of the terminal.

The firm has already submitted its inception report and the World Bank team will also discuss the report before leaving Bangladesh.