Dhaka is going to request New Delhi soon to double the amount it pays annually as maintenance cost of the Indo-Bangla protocol water route to ensure smooth navigability for plying vessels.
Officials said the decision about higher royalty was taken at a recent high-level meeting held at the ministry of shipping (MoS) in the presence of Prime Minister's economic adviser Dr Mashiur Rahman.
India pays Tk 100 million annually as maintenance royalty which is deemed a 'paltry' amount to foot the bill for dredging and maintaining the 500-kilometre protocol route used for carrying Indian freights.
"The cost has already increased as the prices of materials used for maintenance of the route have gone up significantly. The amount India pays is inadequate," director (traffic) of Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority Shafiqul Haque told the FE.
He said the issue was raised at the Indo-Bangladesh shipping secretary- level meeting in New Delhi last April which decided that the matter will be negotiated at the meeting of joint technical committee (JTC) to be held in Dhaka.
Mr Haque said the river channels which vessels with Indian goods ply change very frequently nowadays. So many instruments, especially route-marking ones, are being washed away.   Â
"We also dredge the rivers frequently to maintain navigability for smooth plying of vessels," he said.
Officials said India has paid Tk 100 million since 2013 as annual maintenance fee. Earlier, the amount was Tk 55 million. In the next JTC meeting Bangladesh will request India to pay Tk 200 million.
Mr Haque said India pays the royalty for maintenance of two portions of the protocol route which only the Indian goods-laden vessels ply. The routes are Doikhawa-Sirajganj and Karimganj-Sherpur.
India has been paying the royalty for maintenance of the protocol route since 1972. The amount was only Tk 27,000 back then.
However, a senior shipping ministry official stressed the need for adequately dredging the river channels of protocol route. He feels India may not agree to double the royalty at one go. "But we will raise the issue and try our best to pursue them."
Official statistics show that during the last six and a half years, nearly 9.4 million tonnes of cargoes have been transported between India and Bangladesh through river routes. The river traffic is mostly one-way while carrying bilateral trade cargo and it is from India to Bangladesh where one commodity, fly ash, is the single-largest import.
— syful-islam@outlook.com
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