Ctg chamber demands lifting of daytime ban on truck movement

FE Team | Published: May 22, 2009 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
Chittagong chamber has demanded withdrawal of the daytime ban on truck movement in the port city on Thursday, saying the restrictions are a drag on their business and cause losses worth millions of dollars.
M Abdul Latif, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI), sought government's intervention to lift the ban after accusing the Chittagong Mayor and police department of 'unjustifiably' impeding their trade and business.
The restrictions on 'goods carrying trucks' have been in place since the caretaker regime in 2007 and the current mayor Mohiuddin Chowdhury said on Tuesday that he would keep the ban to ensure smooth traffic movement in the port city.
"The decision to keep the daytime ban on trucks has hit the economy hard and the Chittagong-based businessmen and commodity importers in particular," Latif, also a ruling party lawmaker, said in a statement.
All four industrial areas in and around Chittagong, the big groups and importers who have scores of warehouses in city locations and traders who need to carry goods to and from the port have been affected by the decision, he said.
"As a result, we are incurring irreparable losses every day," Latif said, accusing the mayor of 'deliberately' crippling the port city's economy and killing off its competitive business environment.
Mr. Latif said: "Is it fair to resist the movement of transport because 20 to 25 people become victims of road accidents daily on the highways? It is like cutting head to get rid of headache."
Chittagong is Bangladesh's commercial capital, with the port handling 90 per cent of the country's US$32 billion foreign trade. Most of the top groups and commodity importers also have their headquarters in the southeastern city.
Latif said the mayor in the past damaged the reputation of the city to the foreign investors by holding the country's main port hostage.
"As a result, thousands of workers have lost jobs. Many multinational companies shut down their operations and moved their head-offices elsewhere. The mayor cannot avoid his responsibility."
He also alleged that police are obstructing the supply of goods in the name of traffic system control, which has added extra cost to the businessmen and importers.
The outburst from the key chamber chief came after a series of meetings of Chittagong-based businessmen and entrepreneurs in which they urged the prime minister, the city authorities and the police department to lift the daytime ban on lorry movement.
The businessmen have alleged instead of effectively running the traffic system, on-duty officers take toll from trucks, covered-vans, lorries and pick-ups in the city's five important intersections by threatening them with suits.
But Latif alleged that there has been no response from the mayor and the police department.
As a result, top traders and truckers are losing "huge amount of money" every day. "We want to know will they share the burden with us?"