Bangladesh Railway has decided to form a container service company aiming to increase revenue by carrying more goods.
A draft proposal is likely to be placed at cabinet meeting today.
Bangladesh Railway has already sent the draft to the cabinet division, which says the container company is to be a public limited company and will be run under the railway ministry.
“The company will be operated by an executive body headed by managing director,” the draft proposal says.
It says: “The head of the company will be a resource person skilled in containers management, but not a government service holder.”
“The goal of the company is to provide better services in transporting goods by cargo train.”
Railway Secretary Firoz Salauddin said the railway carried containers from Chittagong port to Kamalapur Inland Container Deport (ICD) in Dhaka, that is 5% of total containers.
“We plan to increase carrying of containers by up to 30% in next couple of years through formation of the company,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
Firoz Salauddin said: “ICD is currently operated by railway. We have decided to form a company to give better services by an expert management in container service.”
He said if the railway carried more containers, pressure would reduce on the highway. Besides, it would also earn more revenue for the railway, he said.
Railway is the chief mode of transporting goods from Chittagong port to Kamalpur ICD. Then covered vans are rented to carry the goods to different destinations from ICD.
