Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Oct 11, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Oct 11, 2005 |
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Logistics
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Shipping Bangladesh may allow N-E States transit facility thru' Chittagong Our Bureau
Kolkata , Oct. 10 THE Bangladesh Government is believed to be favourably disposed towards the Indian Government's request for granting the north-eastern States transit facility through Chittagong port in Bangladesh. The facility, if granted, will boost traffic of the port. The bulk of the huge volumes of commodities currently being moved, though with difficulty, by road and rail into northern States from different parts of India and outside, can be unloaded at Chittagong port's New Mooring Terminal, now under construction and scheduled to be completed within a year or so, for onward movement to various destinations in north-eastern States. Similarly, the seven land-locked States of the North-East will also be able to use the Bangladeshi port to route their exports. A recent report in New Age, a Bangladeshi newspaper, suggests that the Shipping Ministry of Bangladesh, at the initiative of the PMO in that country, held an inter-ministerial meeting attended by representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Shipping, Commerce, Communication and Home and Chittagong port and Bangladesh Land Port Authority to discuss the issue. It was felt that the country would stand to benefit financially from the extension of the transit facility to India's north-eastern States. Taking note of India's interest in initiating talks at the earliest with Bangladesh on the scope of utilisation of the New Mooring Terminal, the meeting discussed the need for developing road and port infrastructure to make the transit facility a success. The issue of unfavourable trade balance with India also came up for a review, it is learnt. The utilisation of the Rs 400-crore plus (in Bangladesh currency) New Mooring Terminal, entirely funded by the Bangladesh Government, was also crucial. With the commissioning of the terminal Chittagong port's container handling capacity is to jump by an estimated 500,000 TEUs to more than 1.2 million TEUs annually. This is not for the first time, as the New Age points out, the issue of transit facility through Chittagong port is being discussed. Earlier, when the Awami League Government was in power, the Cabinet approved a proposal for initiating dialogue with India on transit and transhipment issues. A high-powered committee was also formed under the then finance minister.
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