Mongla port has witnessed Tk48 crore of net profit in last fiscal year, 16 times higher than six years ago.
It said the port’s net profit jumped to Tk48 crore in 2013-14 fiscal from about Tk3 crore in 2008-09.
The ships, cargoes and containers handling also increased more than three times during the period.
The parliamentary standing committee on shipping ministry disclosed the figures in a meeting yesterday.
It recommended constructing a five-star hotel near Mongla port to accommodate businessmen and a four-lane high way from port to Mawa ghat for faster communication with Dhaka.
“Overall performance of Mongla port is satisfactory. It (the port) has enormous prospect,” Major (Retd) Rafiqul Islam Bir Uttam, chairman of the committee, told the Dhaka Tribune after the meeting.
He said Mongla port is potential to be utilised more than now, from which, the government can earn larger profit amounts.
According to working paper of the meeting, the Mongla Port Authority earned a revenue of Tk58 crore in 2008-09 fiscal and the net profit was about Tk3 crore.
In last fiscal the revenue stood at Tk145 crore and out of that the port enjoyed a net profit of Tk48 crore.
The meeting said the ships, cargoes and containers handling also increased three-fold.
While in 2008-09 only 139 ships anchored in the port, the number increased to 345 in 2013-14.
The parliamentary body also recommended constructing more infrastructures to facilitate export-import using modern equipment for cargo handling.
According to a press release of the Parliamentary Secretariat, the committee on shipping ministry also recommended setting up a water treatment plant at Mongla and linking the port with railway lines.
The body urged to ensure airline facilities and build more bridges in the port area.
The working paper stated that the net profit in land ports also increased three-fold during six years.
In 2008-09 fiscal, the land ports’ net profit totalled about Tk11 crore and stood at Tk29 crore in the fiscal year 2013-14.
Rafiqul Islam thinks the land port authorities could have made more net profit.
“The land port authorities could have made more profit than they earned in last six years. We now have asked them to try for that,” said Major (Retd) Rafiqul Islam.