2 commissionerates of CCH start functioning

FE Team | Published: July 02, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

FE Report
Two commissionerates of the Chittagong Customs House (CCH) started functioning separately from Sunday with a view to making the overall customs clearing and forwarding procedures more effective and easier at the country's main export-import hub.
Segregation of duties and responsibilities of the commissionerates also aims to boost the government's revenue collections, especially in the form of customs duties.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman Badiur Rahman formally launched the operations of the two commissionerates-one to exclusively deal with the import-related matters while another will look after exports and preventive activities including security, a senior Chittagong Customs official said.
"The creation of two separate commissionerates will not only accelerate the overall customs clearance procedures, but also help boost the government's revenue collection," the CCH Commissioner Farid Uddin Ahmed told the FF Sunday over telephone.
Currently, around 35 per cent of the government's tax revenue and nearly 80 per cent of the customs duties are generated from the Chittagong zone alone, he mentioned.
Farid, however, said although the two customs houses will initially function at the existing Customs House building, one commissionerate will be shifted to a nearby place shortly.
The customs authority has already sought Tk 8.9 million for the purpose, he added.
Earlier, the government finalised the organograms of the two separate customs commissionerates with about 301 manpower strength for the import wing and 491 for the export wing, the official sources said.
They also said the Chittagong Customs House has been segregated in line with the government's ongoing tax-administration reforms, pursued by the multilateral donors namely the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The main purpose of the division is to deliver prompt services with regard to the customs clearance process to both exporters and importers, they mentioned.
Terming Chittagong port as the key export-import hub, a senior NBR official recently told the FE that it was very difficult for a single commissionerate to deal with both export and import related activities.
"An ever-growing volume in the shipments of both exports and imports through the Chittagong port has necessitated the authorities to separate the existing commissionerate into two entities," said the official.
The official also noted that nearly 80 per cent of the country's total imports and more than 90 per cent of the total exports enter and exit through the seaport.
Although the NBR initiated a move to separate the Chittagong customs house into two wings from July 1, 2006, it could not be accomplished due to some technical problems, especially with regard to placement of officials and employees for the two administrations.