The Pangaon Inland Container Terminal (ICT) can be cited as the latest example of how whims, more than reasons, often come into play in taking up public sector development projects.
More than 26 months after its formal launch, the government has decided to force the importers to use the ICT facility for transportation of at least 20 per cent of their imported capital machinery and cotton. The mandatory use is meant for factories located in Dhaka and areas adjacent to it.
The ministry of shipping (MoS) and the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) reportedly issued separate directives in November last asking the factory owners and businesses to carry their imported goods in question through the terminal until March next.
It is obvious that the businesses' lack of interest to use the Pangaon ICT has compelled the government to go for a sort of coercive measure. In fact, the state of affairs with the terminal in the first month after its opening indicated what would happen to the ICT that was built at a cost of Tk 1.5 billion.
Only one vessel arrived at Pangaon from Chittagong in near about a month after its launch. The objective behind building the terminal was to ease pressure on the Bangladesh Railway (BR) and the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, in terms of transportation of containers and other imported cargoes.
The cost factor does strongly support the use of the Pangaon ICT facility by the importers. For instance, the cost of transportation of a container from Chittagong port to Dhaka comes around Tk 22000 while the same costs only Tk 9000 by waterways. But the time factor does favour transportation by road -- 9.0 hours vis-à-vis 36 hours by waterways.
Transportation time and hassles involved in the use of the ICT facility might have discouraged the importers. There could also be some problems at the suppliers' end to segregate goods under one letter of credit (LC) for a subsidiary port.
The Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) has already expressed its reluctance to use the Pangaon ICT for transporting capital machinery and cotton because of the hassles involved in it. Since others have not used the terminal during the last two years, it is unlikely that they would be willing to do that now or in the future.
Import cargoes unloaded and cleared by Chittagong port face yet another set of hurdles at Pangaon and it takes a lot of time and involves extra cost, the BTMA people said.
The developments surrounding the ICT in question would, obviously, prompt one to ask a pertinent question: Did the ministry of shipping discuss with all the stakeholders, including the all-important port users, the prospect of the terminal before taking up a project to that effect?
If there were interactions and the businesses supported the move, the ministry could press those businesses hard with regard to the increased use of the Pangaon ICT facility.
But that is very unlikely. In addition to the cost factor, businesses do usually take into cognizance other issues, including the ones that are usually more prominent in Bangladesh condition, while making their decisions.
Moreover, while taking up the ICT project the MoS, apparently, overlooked two important ongoing projects -- upgradation of the BR and implementation of a mega-project -- the four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway.
The transportation of goods and passengers through both roads and railways between Dhaka and Chittagong would improve remarkably soon. Transportation cost may remain unchanged, but, certainly, there would be improvement as far as traffic movement is concerned. With the opening of the four-lane road, the travel time between the two cities might come down to five hours.
In such a situation, the importers might even be more reluctant to use the services of the Pangaon ICT. The government, which has a tradition of sustaining a good number of loss-making entities with taxpayers' money, would, thus, get yet another white elephant.
Why blame the MoS alone? Why did the Planning Commission (PC) allow the ICT project despite having a bleak prospect? It could be that the sponsors of the project -- the CPA and the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) -- had carried out a feasibility study and managed its findings much to their likings.
It is not that the PC does not try to bring discipline and ensure fair play in project preparation and their execution. On occasions it sends back projects to the line ministries for doing necessary feasibility studies, cost cutting, corrections and modifications. But it can hardly withstand political pressure for inclusion of many unwanted projects in the annual development programmes and allocation of funds.
One option, however, remains open for the government. It could better use the Pangaon for the imports done by the public sector agencies. This would take away some pressure from the Chittagong port.
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