‘Target revenue difficult without infrastructural development of Benapole port’
Published: July 28, 2019 Financial Express
The authorities and businesses connected to Benapole port believe they will struggle to achieve their revenue target of Tk 60.28 billion for fiscal 2019-20 without developing its infrastructure as soon as possible.
Pointing to an agreement between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal, Motiar Rahman, sub-committee chairman of India-Bangladesh Land Port Import-Export, said these countries have not been able to reap the fruits of the agreement due to various short comibngs of the port’s infrastructure.
Emphasising infrastructure development of the port, Motiar said Bangladesh and India have already taken some joint steps to accelerate trade through the port.
Benapole C&F Agents Association president Mofizur Rahman Sujan said Benapole port is a very prospective one but is dealing with double the load of its capacity, that is only 38,000 MT (metric tonnes).
Hundreds of trucks wait outside the port for days, which damages the goods at the port, Sujan added.
He also said that if the government addresses the issues, soon the port will have the capacity to achieve even double the targeted for revenue collection this year.
Md Idris Ali, an importer at Benapole Port, demanded the construction of a laboratory to test goods at Benapole itself, as it takes 15 to 20 days extra for the products to be sent to the capital for testing and then to be brought back from there.
Pradosh Kanti Das, Benapole Port Director (Traffic), said they have started infrastructure development in short range and land acquisition to expand the port area.
“We have plans to bring the whole port area under close circuit camera surveillance,” he added.
Sarwar Hossain, Deputy Inspector of Benapole Customs House Statistics Unit, said all the staffs of the customs have been trying hard to achieve the revenue target.
The port collected Tk 40.40 billion revenue against a target of Tk 54.43 billion in FY18-19 FY, he added.
