A Dhaka-Chittagong expressway for better business
Saturday, 15 November 2008
Amirul Islam
The Chittagong port's functioning is reported to have improved over the past year and a half. It has been possible because the government gave focused attention to the port. The results have been impressive. The time of handling cargoes was brought down from 12 days to 3 days. A ship now takes a little over a day to unload and to leave the port. Earlier it used to take ships wait for much longer to do it. The congestion is a matter of the past. Foreign shipping companies now charge much less for bringing shipments to Chittagong port as they know about the improvements including of reduced risks of calling on it. This is saving a lot of money, which the businesses had to pay to shipping companies as unnecessary waiting charges for the inefficiency of the port.
There are more things to be done to build on this positive trend. Businesses are suggesting for further improvement in the port's functioning, adding to its capacities, and for building, without wasting time at least one expressway between Dhaka and Chittagong. The expressway, they suggest would speed up trade and economic activities and save a substantial amount of money annually for the businesses by drastically cutting transportation costs.
The expressway would provide other benefits too. It would increase the competitiveness of the entire range export-oriented industries. It would shorten the crucial lead time for the garments industry with faster handling of imported raw materials and exportable finished goods. Besides, transportation costs of consumer and essential goods from Chittagong would also come down, they say.
The suggested four-lane expressway would cut down the time of movement between Dhaka and Chittagong for business cargo by nearly four hours. It takes an average of at least seven hours now for a container truck to reach Chittagong from Dhaka using the existing Dhaka-Chittagong highway. The expressway could be dedicated to high speed movement of business cargo.
The government should also pay attention to building inland container depots (ICDs) to be support the port and the expressway. The ICDs could take pressure away from the Chittagong port and speed up the movement of traffic on the vital Dhaka-Chittagong corridor.
The Chittagong port's functioning is reported to have improved over the past year and a half. It has been possible because the government gave focused attention to the port. The results have been impressive. The time of handling cargoes was brought down from 12 days to 3 days. A ship now takes a little over a day to unload and to leave the port. Earlier it used to take ships wait for much longer to do it. The congestion is a matter of the past. Foreign shipping companies now charge much less for bringing shipments to Chittagong port as they know about the improvements including of reduced risks of calling on it. This is saving a lot of money, which the businesses had to pay to shipping companies as unnecessary waiting charges for the inefficiency of the port.
There are more things to be done to build on this positive trend. Businesses are suggesting for further improvement in the port's functioning, adding to its capacities, and for building, without wasting time at least one expressway between Dhaka and Chittagong. The expressway, they suggest would speed up trade and economic activities and save a substantial amount of money annually for the businesses by drastically cutting transportation costs.
The expressway would provide other benefits too. It would increase the competitiveness of the entire range export-oriented industries. It would shorten the crucial lead time for the garments industry with faster handling of imported raw materials and exportable finished goods. Besides, transportation costs of consumer and essential goods from Chittagong would also come down, they say.
The suggested four-lane expressway would cut down the time of movement between Dhaka and Chittagong for business cargo by nearly four hours. It takes an average of at least seven hours now for a container truck to reach Chittagong from Dhaka using the existing Dhaka-Chittagong highway. The expressway could be dedicated to high speed movement of business cargo.
The government should also pay attention to building inland container depots (ICDs) to be support the port and the expressway. The ICDs could take pressure away from the Chittagong port and speed up the movement of traffic on the vital Dhaka-Chittagong corridor.