Hasina leases out ports to India without any fees

Mahfuz Emran: The pilot transport of transit goods from mainland India to the northeastern states of the country began in 2020 using Bangladesh’s Chittagong and Mongla ports. Last year, India got permission to use Chittagong and Mongla ports commercially. Therefore, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a standing order on April 24, 2023, under which the country was allowed to use Chittagong and Mongla ports for a nominal fee.
Meanwhile, India will have to spend very little to transport goods using the roads of Bangladesh. Road usage fee per tonne of goods per kilometer is less than Tk 2. And there is no road usage fee for Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala buses. Free national buses run from Kolkata to Agartala across Bangladesh.
As per last year’s order, the processing fee for port usage is only Tk 30 per consignment. And transshipment fee of Tk 20, security fee of Tk 100 and other administrative fee of Tk 100 has been fixed for each ton. Container scanning fee (per container) Tk 254. Besides, an escort (guard) fee of Tk 85 per kilometer has been fixed for each container or vehicle.
Typically, each 20-foot (TEU) container can carry 25 tons of product. India will have to pay transshipment charges at the rate of only Tk 500 per container. Although in 2010 this rate was fixed at Tk 10 thousand. In other words, compared to the fixed charges of 2010, the transshipment charges have been fixed at 20%. However, for unknown reasons, the rate of transshipment fee in 2010 was canceled that year.
Meanwhile in India there is another sector called electric lock and seal fee, which is yet to be defined. In this case, it is mentioned that the fee will be imposed as per the rules. Besides, for the transportation of goods by road, the road transport and bridge ministry has to pay the fixed fee. On June 16, 2021, the ministry fixed the toll on eight routes. It charges Tk 1.85 per kilometer per ton of product.
Among the eight routes, the longest distance is Mongla Bandar-Gopalganj-Mawa-Dhaka-Narsingdi-Ashuganj-Sylhet-Tamabil route. For a distance of 435 km on this route, the recoverable fee for medium capacity trucks including toll has been fixed at Tk 12,195. The shortest distance is Chittagong Port-Feni-Comilla-Bibirbazar route, 143 km. The road toll on this route has been fixed at Tk 3,988. However, Value Added Tax (VAT) will be levied on various types of fares.
The NBR order lays down detailed procedures for appointment of transit operators, loading of ships at ports, declaration of transit or transshipment, customs clearance, manual examination of goods, transit period etc. The order calls for the listing of Bangladeshi companies as transit operators and the use of Bangladeshi vehicles for transporting goods by road.
According to information, in October 2018, in the capital of India, New Delhi, an agreement was reached at the secretary level of the two countries regarding the use of Chittagong and Mongla ports. A year later on October 5, 2019 in New Delhi, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a standard operating procedure (SOP). Under that SOP, the first test shipment went to India through Chittagong port in July 2020 for use of Chittagong and Mongla ports. Last year a few more shipments went experimentally using Chittagong port and Mongla port.
Transit Routes: As per the NBR order, Indian cargo can be transported to India via land ports within Bangladesh on eight routes using Chittagong and Mongla ports.
These are Chittagong Port-Akhaura-Agartala, Mongla Port-Akhaura-Agartala, Chittagong Port-TamabilDauki, Mongla Port-Tamabil-Dauki, Chittagong Port-Sheola-Sutarkandi, Mongla Port-Sheola-Sutarkandi, Chittagong Port-Bibirbazar-Shrimantpur and Mongla. Bandar-Bibirbazar-Srimantapur. According to the sources, goods used to travel from different parts of India to Tripura and Meghalaya, covering a distance of about 1,600 km and spending a long time. However, using Mongla and Chittagong ports has reduced the time and cost of transporting goods to the northeastern states of India. Although it is beneficial for India, it is not very beneficial for Bangladesh.
Economist Mainul Islamthinks that the charges that Bangladesh has set for transit and transshipment could have been higher. He told Daily Industry recently that if India saves $100 by using the port, then $50 should be given to Bangladesh, and $50 should be kept by India. But if India takes only $80, giving Bangladesh only $20, I don’t think it is fair. Because the port of Bangladesh will be used, the road will be used. The depreciation of these will increase a lot. Considering these factors, Bangladesh’s fair share should have been more.
Meanwhile, the fees and charges fixed for completing the customs process of transit and transshipment goods under the agreement between the two countries are mentioned in rupee. Dr. Mainul Islamthinks that it would be better if these charges were determined in dollars. He said, in the last one and a half to two years, there has been a big depreciation of the taka. Therefore, if the tax is fixed in money, then we are getting less than before. In the future, the currency of Bangladesh will suffer further depreciation. Then this fee will be reduced further.
On the other hand earlier there was no direct bus service from Kolkata to Agartala in India.
Indian citizens had to use separate bus services from Kolkata to Dhaka and Dhaka to Agartala. However, in June 2015, an agreement was reached to start a direct bus service from Kolkata to Agartala via Dhaka. Under this, Indian buses do not have to pay any kind of road usage fee even if they use the territory of Bangladesh. However, in an interview given to the Indian news agency PTI on September 5, the chief advisor of the interim government Muhammad Yunusgave a glimpse of the review of the bilateral agreement with India. He said, “There is a demand to review some contracts like transit and Adani’s power contract. Everyone says it needs to be done. We will first look at what is on paper and secondly, what the real situation really is. I can’t say for sure right now. If a review is required, we will raise questions about it.’’