Shipping secretary-level meeting November 3
Dhaka to propose transit fees for Indian goods
Dhaka will present a proposal to fix the transit fees for Indian goods that are transported through Bangladeshs ports and waterways.
This proposal is likely to be finalised during the meeting of the shipping secretaries, to be held in New Delhi on November 3, said sources at the shipping ministry.
According to a high-ranking official of the ministry, both Bangladesh and India will take the final decision on fixing the transit fees through mutual understanding after holding discussions.
We have initially fixed a fee on Indian goods. This proposal will be placed during the secretary-level meeting in New Delhi. We want to expand our trade with neighbouring countries through waterways, too, shipping minister Shajahan Khan told The Independent.
He expressed his hope that transhipment of goods by waterways between Bangladesh and India will be started soon after fixing the transit fees.
Shafique Alam Mehdi, Bangladeshs shipping secretary, and his Indian counterpart, will lead the secretary-level meeting, sources in the shipping ministry said.
According to the sources, Bangladesh has proposed a USD 5 per tonne of Indian goods as transit fees.
Of the proposed fees of USD 5 (equivalent to Bangladeshi Tk. 375), the National Board of Revenues (NBRs) fee is Tk. 180, vessel survey fee Tk. 156, road charges Tk. 1.24 per km and monitoring charges of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Tk. 10.
The plying of coastal and passenger vessels will also be discussed at the secretary-level meeting, the source added.
The Indian government has already transhipped several thousand tonnes of goods free of cost to its north-eastern state of Tripura via Bangladeshs Ashuganj river port. Earlier, the Indian government had pledged to develop port and road facilities from Ashuganj to Agartala, but the proposal is still on paper, sources in the shipping ministry disclosed.
Sources said the Indian high commission in Bangladesh requested the foreign ministry on January 30 last year to allow transhipment of 35,000 tonnes of food-grains from Kolkata to Ashuganj by the riverine route and the remainder by road to Agartala. The Indian government has already ferried a major portion of 35,000 tonnes of rice for Tripura via Bangladesh as train services in the north-eastern states of Tripura, Manipur, Mizoram and southern Assam have been stopped from October 1 to March 2016 because of gauge conversion. BIWTA chairman Commodore M Mozammel Huq earlier told The Independent that the conditions of the port and roads were too shoddy to ensure such transhipment of goods, and the development of infrastructure was needed on an urgent basis.
In 2013, the Indian government had again sought permission from the BIWTA to tranship 35,000 tonnes of food-grains to Tripura through Ashuganj.
In April 2011, an Indian company had ferried heavy equipment for a power plant at Palatana in Tripura. The over-dimensional cargoes (ODC) for the plant were ferried by 21 ships on a trial basis without paying any levies.
In October 2011, the Indian government again transported 3,200 tonnes of ingots to Agartala (in Tripura) via Ashuganj free of cost, through a voyage declaration on a trial basis. In May 2011, the Bangladeshi government had declared Ashuganj the second transhipment point under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade.
