INDIAN TRANSHIPMENT 'NBR has to make it happen' Dhaka, Feb 15 (bdnews24.com) – The shipping ministry finds no problem with the transhipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Ashuganj other than the NBR services for making the thing happen. "We [shipping ministry] have no problem in the transhipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Agartala through Ashuganj, but thing is that NBR has to provide necessary services to facilitate movement of the products," shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Howlader said on Tuesday. In a hurriedly organised press conference on his return from India, he said "We have allowed India to use Ashuganj port and we don't have any problem with that. But we are not responsible for any tariff or fee charged for the transhipment". In India, the top bureaucrat signed the renewal agreement on protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade for one year. The Ashuganj port on an average handles 50,000 tonnes of bulk cargoes every day and the shipping ministry has no problem if any Indian party use the port for sending goods to Agartala from Kolkata, he said. Bangladesh in May last year allowed India to tranship its products from Kolkata to Agartala through the land port. "The NBR has informed us that it has already approved setting up of an office in the port, but I still don't know if the office is operational or not," he added. India made several requests to BIWTA from June 2010 to allow them to send bulk cargoes through Ashuganj, but it is yet to be materialised. "The vessel fare from Kolkata to Ashuganj is yet to be decided but it will be fixed soon," Howlader said. Vessel owners get $12 for carrying per tonne of products from Kolkata to Narayanganj. About Khanpur container terminal, he said the Indian side expressed its interest to operate the terminal on pilot basis. "We asked them [India] to provide us terms and conditions and they will make decision after analysing the issue," he said adding, "They will provide their conditions within 15 days." The containerised trade movement between Bangladesh and India will be possible if Khanpur terminal becomes activated, he observed. The secretary said in the sidelines of their official talks, the delegations informally discussed to have a separate agreement on entire shipping sector. "It was not in the protocol agenda, but we discussed the issue." http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?id=187405&cid=2 |
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