Govt set to hire foreign co to re-fix charges of Ctg Port

The government is set to appoint a foreign consultant to re-fix the charges of the Chittagong Port, and has asked the Mongla Port Authority to do the same by their own, officials said Monday. "We have decided to re-fix the charges of Chittagong and Mongla ports in line with the charges of other ports of the region. Instructions in this regard have been given to the port authorities," shipping secretary Abdul Mannan Howlader told the FE. "The charges of the Chittagong Port, fixed many years back, were found higher, comparing to those of the other nearby ports. After re-calculation, the charges of the port may go down or up," he said. Sources said during the last caretaker regime some charges of the Chittagong Port were increased significantly. That time unstuffing charge of the port was raised by 226 per cent, space rent by 166 to 434 per cent, and shed cargo rent by 298-537 per cent. The present government on June 26, 2009 formed a committee to probe into the matter and submit a report, following strong demand of the private sector. The committee, headed by a joint secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, recommended bringing down the charges, as efficiency of the port is lesser than other ports of the region. The sources also said a meeting, chaired by the shipping secretary last December, asked the Chittagong Port Authority to appoint a consultant for reviewing the charges. The port authority wanted to carry out the work through appointing a local consultant. They also sought expression of interest (EoI) two times from local consultants. However, the Ministry of Shipping last week decided to appoint a foreign consultant in this connection. In the meantime, a proposal to reduce the port usage charges for local apparel exporters is lying with the Ministry of Finance during the last four and half months. Talking to the FE, president of the Exporters Association of Bangladesh (EAB) Abdus Salam Murshedy said reduction of port charges would raise the exporters' competitiveness in the international market, since they are experiencing crises of power and energy. "Instead of wasting time the government should bring down the port charges at a logical level for the sake of the country's export-oriented sectors," he said.