Bangladesh may order patrol vessels for its coast guards from Kolkata’s Garden Reach Shipyard after Mauritius inducted one of their Baracuda class vessel into its coast guards.
The vessel was formally inducted during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Mauritius.
Bangladesh Coast Guards Director General Rear Admiral Mohammed Maqbool Hossain visited the Garden Reach Shipyard last month and made detailed enquiries about its production profile.
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) Chairman-cum-Managing Director Rear Admiral (retd) AK Verma informed Hossain about the growing number of enquiries GRSE is getting after the Baracuda patrol craft was inducted into Mauritius coast guards.
“We gave details of our production profile to the Bangladesh coast guard chief, how several advance ships and submarines for the Indian Navy were being built at GRSE,” Verma told journalists. “He showed positive interest and we expect some orders from Bangladesh.”
The GRSE is building Anti-Submarine Warfare Corvettes for the Indian Navy and also three stealth frigates under Project 17A.
The shipyard is among the five in the country shortlisted to build six conventional submarines under Project 75 (India).
The Kolkata shipyard is also likely to build four patrol vessels for Vietnam as part of a $100 million credit line extended by India.
The GRSE is a public sector undertaking under India’s ministry of defence production.
It is now competing with six companies to bag an order for two light frigates for the Philippines.
The GRSE is ruing why the Indian government did not extend a line of credit for vessels for Myanmar, which wanted to place orders with GRSE — the orders later went to China.
Under Modi’s new policy of developing closer ties with neighbours and improve India’s defence industry capacity , that may change and India may well extend line of credit for purchase of GRSE made vessels.
Source: Bd news24
