Leaderships in Dhaka and New Delhi have again started talking informally on mass-scale transshipment facilities to neighbouring India through Bangladesh territory after a break of three years.
“We should try to have a multi-modal transport arrangement [with India],” said Mashiur Rahman, economic adviser to the Prime Minister, while addressing an international conference at a city hotel yesterday.
He was speaking at the India-Bangladesh Business Conclave on connectivity and bilateral investment, which was jointly organidsed by Indian Chamber of Commerce and India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The adviser said the transshipment facility was provided to India on adhoc basis but ‘it needs to be institutionalised.’
He observed that the two governments need to energise cross-border investment along with a cross-border trade and transit.
Bangladesh provided transshipment facilities to carry Palatana power plant machinery from Kolkata to Tripura through Ashuganj port in 2010 and after a test run in 2011, Dhaka again agreed to allow carrying 10,000 tonnes of food grain to Tripura through the same route this year.
Dhaka allows carrying Indian goods from one part of India to another through Bangladesh without any fee or charge.
Bangladesh had earlier imposed transshipment fees of Tk10,000 per container and Tk1,000 per tonne for bulk cargo in 2010 budget but it was later withdrawn in October same year.
Indian State Minister for External Affairs VK Singh said movement of cargoes trough water route would reduce cost and time to a great extent.
“Although we have a protocol on the use of inland waterways, we have not been able to fully utilise the potential of the waterways for bilateral trade,” he said.
He proposed that protocol on Inland Water Trade and Transit (IWTT) should be renewed for long period to have long-term investment for developing the routes.
Bangladesh and India signed IWTT protocol under the trade agreement in 1972 and it is usually renewed for three years.
Industries and Commerce Minister of Tripura Tapan Chakrabarty said: “Ashuganj port should be made full operational for multi-modal connectivity.’’
He also urged Bangladesh to allow use of Chittagong port for Indian goods and expedite survey of Akhaura-Agartala railway link.
India has long been pursuing Bangladesh to allow transshipment of Indian goods from Kolkata to Tripura through Ashuganj port, just 49 kilomtre from Agartala, as it is extremely difficult for them to carry goods through Shiliguri corridor, widely known as Chicken Neck.
Attending a programme on Indi-Bangla relationship held last week in the city, former foreign secretary Farooq Sobhan said India should maintain good relations with Bangladesh for the development of Northeastern India.
“India’s northeast has really no future without integration economically with Bangladesh,” he said.
Dhaka and New Delhi were supposed to sign a deal on providing transshipment on commercial basis in 2011 during the visit of the then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but it was not inked apparently due to New Delhi’s failure to deliver Teesta water sharing agreement.
