Bhomra land port dev work to be finished by June next

Monira Munni Bhomra land port will start handling of products by the middle of next year facilitating export-import through land route to streamline border trade with the neighbouring countries, mainly India, officials said. The government initiated the project for infrastructure development, efficient cargo handling, improvement of storage facilities, fostering public-private partnership for effective and better service delivery, they added. They said Bhomra land port will boost cross-border trade at Satkhira and Ghojadanga. "We hope that the development work of the port will be completed by June next year which will ease the export and import activities," Bangladesh Land Port Authority (BLPA) Chairman AKM Yahea Chowdhury told the FE. After the completion of the development work National Board of Revenue (NBR) will declare BLPA as the warehouse keeper, he said. The revenue income will increase after the development of the port and unemployed youths of the area will get job opportunities, he said. The villagers of the border areas will also benefit from the Bhomra land port, he added.The 15.72 acres Bhomra land port will have four warehouses with the capacity of 800 tonnes, stack yard, transshipment yard and truck terminal, BLPA officials said. The warehouse capacity will be increased to 1,600 tonnes gradually, they added. The infrastructure development of the port was not possible for a long time due to legal complexities in acquiring the land to make the warehouse of the port. Local people now have withdrawn their cases considering development of the port, the officials said. "Bhomra land port will boost the trade volume between Bangladesh and India as Kolkata is nearer to this port compared to Benapole," Irtiza Ahmed Choudhury BLPA Member (Traffic) said. We expect the trade will surpass than that of the business through Benapole port at present, he said adding that the government's revenue earning will also go up significantly. In the last fiscal year BLPA's earnings from Benapole port stood at about Tk 270 million while the organisation gets only 1.0 per cent of the total customs earnings as it performs the loading and unloading of products. Of the 17 land ports, BLPA runs Benapole, Burimari and Akhaura while five land ports including Sonamasjid, Hili, Teknaf, Bibirbazar and Banglabandha are operated by private operators on BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis, he said. The BLPA chairman said the authority will operate Bhomra and the rest of the ports which are under development process. The government initiated the BOT arrangement for the land ports to gear up cross-border trade with the neighbouring countries - India, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. Birol land port, which was brought under private management in 2006, remained fully unutilised for trade because of the absence of a road link and rail route.