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Calcutta port sees a rival in Chittagong

THE Calcutta port is likely to face competition not only from new ports such as Dhamra and Kulpi, but also from the Chittagong port of Bangladesh. There is a move to develop Chittagong into a regional hub port catering to the SAARC members such a s Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India. The move, though initiated a couple of years ago by the SAARC Secretariat, had not made much headway then.

Nepal, a land-locked country, uses Calcutta port as transit for routing almost entirely its imports and exports. Although, the throughput of Nepal's imports and exports have increased over the years, the Nepalese authorities have always been on the look- out for an alternative port. This is because the transport cost of sending container from Raxaul to Calcutta is about Rs 12,000, but Nepalese exporters are required to cough up more than Rs 20,000. At one point, the Nepalese authorities explored the poss ibility of even using some of ports located on the west coast.

Also, the country wanted to experiment with Chittagong port. Nepal's inland container depots (ICDs) at Birgunge and other places, being set up with the World Bank Assistance, would be ready for operation soon. So the issue of using an alternative port mi ght be revived again. Bhutan, too, it is learnt, is planning to set up ICDs and CFSs. And they may not necessarily be connected to Calcutta port. India would like to see Chittagong develop into a regional hub port providing transit facilities to the carg o to and from the North-Eastern states.

The Calcutta Port Trust, though aware of these developments, has not given much thought to how to cope with the situation in the event there is a flight of cargo to Chittagong port. -- Our Bureau