Banglabandha getting big lift for trade with Nepal

The government moves to upgrade Banglabandha Land Port (BLP) to facilitate smooth loading and unloading of goods for shipment to Nepal on transit route through India, officials said.
To this end, the ministry of shipping (MoS) has given directives to the BLP authority to upgrade and build new sheds and other infrastructures of the land port in view of its developing trade potential.
Bangladesh exports a variety of items, including processed foods, fruit drinks, snacks, plastic products and furniture, to the landlocked Himalayan country.
Nepal is a high-growth market for Bangladeshi companies mainly because of its tourist-centric economy of the Himalayan kingdom-turned republic.
Despite such promises, the country's exporters have been facing some difficulties which are mainly related to the operations and infrastructure at the BLP.  
Export to Nepal from Bangladesh has been on the increase, forcing the land-port authority to deal with a huge quantity of exports with their limited existing capacity.
Every day around 35 to 40 trucks carrying exportable items to Nepal arrive at the BLP in northern Panchagarh district.
But the land port has not that capacity to accommodate the trucks for the loading and unloading of products because of inadequate shed facilities.  As a result, it causes an unusual delay in export to Nepal.   
An official of a leading local company which exports items to Nepal said due to the absence of waiting areas, and loading/unloading sheds at the port, the Bangladeshi trucks have to load/unload exportable onto Nepali trucks in the open, posing a threat of damage to the products due to rain and other natural adversities.  
The exporters said they could send their items to Nepal only five days a week due to different weekends in Bangladesh (on Friday) and India (on Sunday) which results in unwanted delay in cargo shipment to Nepal.  
They suggested that the MoS fix a common weekend day for both the land ports of Bangladesh and India and allow Bangladeshi freight trucks to reach up to Kakorvita of Nepal.
On average, products worth over US$2.20 million are being exported to Nepal monthly.  
The BLP is more convenient for shipment of country's products to Nepal, according to the exporters and the MoS.
Nepal's commerce secretary, during a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart in May 2016 in Dhaka, had paid a visit to BLP and underscored the importance of the land port for export and import trade between the two neighbouring countries.  
"We have taken initiative to build new loading and unloading sheds, warehouses, vehicle parking and upgrade the roads that connect the port," chairman of BLP Tapan Kumar Chakraborty told the FE.
He said the new sheds will have the capacity to accommodate at least 50 trucks for loading and unloading goods at a time.
He said that they have taken the initiative to upgrade the port considering the importance of the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement which is highly expected to come into effect shortly following the positive overtures on the issue by the four governments.     
He said a private company has been engaged to build the new sheds and other infrastructures of the BLP that will take around six months to complete.
    [email protected]