NCT deal with DP World: Chattogram port workers give govt 3-day ultimatum for talks

Leaders of protesting workers’ organisations at Chattogram have given the government a three-day ultimatum to open talks over the 15-year concession agreement signed today between the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) and DP World.

They also announced a token hunger strike for Monday and warned that the movement would be intensified if the government failed to hold talks with protesting port workers and employees by Sunday (October 11, 2026).

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The announcement came at a rally organised by Chattogram Bandar Rokkha Sangram Parishad, a platform of pro-BNP workers' organisations active at the port, in front of the main gate of the port's administrative building.

Leaders and activists of several political and labour organisations, including Sramik Karmachari Oikkya Parishad, the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal (Basad) and Basad (Marxist), also joined the programme under the banner of Chattogram Bandar Rokkha Committee.

After the rally, participants brought out a procession through roads adjacent to the port area.

Addressing the gathering, Parishad Coordinator Humayun Kabir said the protesters were still willing to engage in dialogue.

They still believe the government is ready to discuss the issue and listen to the arguments of the port's workers and employees, he said.

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He criticised the government for signing the agreement without making its details public.

Sheikh Nurullah Bahar, general secretary of the Chattogram divisional unit of Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, accused the government of ignoring public opinion and the concerns of port workers and employees.

He questioned what safeguards, if any, had been included in the agreement for workers.

Bahar also accused BIDA Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud and CPA Chairman SM Moniruzzaman of influencing the government to hand over the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) to DP World.

Parishad Co-Coordinator Ibrahim Khokan, who is also general secretary of Bandar Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal, said no agreement would be accepted unless port workers and employees agreed to it.