Changing perspectives
Sunday, 10 April 2011
Mahmudur Rahman
The raging storm of debate that followed Bangladesh's agreeing to provide transittransshipment facilities to India was left simmering on the point of massive revenue earnings from fees to be paid for the purpose. Even the pessimists agreed that provided the adequate safeguards were in place to prevent questionable and debatable commodities being transported, it wasn't that bad an idea. But two recent reports on shipment of goods for a power plant and road building material hit the headlines when it transpired that no fees had been paid for the transshipment. The comments of the Prime Minister's Adviser, Dr Mashiur Rahman, further complicated matters. He actually suggested that asking for transit fees from India for transshipment of goods across Bangladesh is "uncivilised" or for "illiterate" politicians! And yet throughout the debate of 'should we or shouldn't we allow transit' the main focus had always been regional connectivity and a huge source of income from such fees. Even the former Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakraborty had said as much. It would now appear that those comments were either wrong or unjustified. The upgrading costs of Chittagong and Mongla ports are conditionally bound to the $ 1.0 billion soft-term loan provided to Bangladesh by India. One would assume the funds have been released or is in the process. And it could well be that instead of such transit fees; the adjustments will be made against repayment of the loan. Another area touched on by the adviser was a reciprocal arrangement under which electricity from Bhutan could be transshipped (or tans-poled) across India to Bangladesh to make up for the huge shortfall that exists, again without fees. Trade between Bangladesh and Nepal is supposed to be benefited by mutually agreed transshipment arrangements but while we are seeing a lot in terms of export volumes rising to the seven sister states of India, nothing much appears to be transpiring on the Nepal front. The Bhutanese king's recent visit led to several trade agreements, all of which will be largely dependent on India allowing cross border trade to take place. The writer can be reached at E-mail: mahmudrahman@gmail.com
The raging storm of debate that followed Bangladesh's agreeing to provide transittransshipment facilities to India was left simmering on the point of massive revenue earnings from fees to be paid for the purpose. Even the pessimists agreed that provided the adequate safeguards were in place to prevent questionable and debatable commodities being transported, it wasn't that bad an idea. But two recent reports on shipment of goods for a power plant and road building material hit the headlines when it transpired that no fees had been paid for the transshipment. The comments of the Prime Minister's Adviser, Dr Mashiur Rahman, further complicated matters. He actually suggested that asking for transit fees from India for transshipment of goods across Bangladesh is "uncivilised" or for "illiterate" politicians! And yet throughout the debate of 'should we or shouldn't we allow transit' the main focus had always been regional connectivity and a huge source of income from such fees. Even the former Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakraborty had said as much. It would now appear that those comments were either wrong or unjustified. The upgrading costs of Chittagong and Mongla ports are conditionally bound to the $ 1.0 billion soft-term loan provided to Bangladesh by India. One would assume the funds have been released or is in the process. And it could well be that instead of such transit fees; the adjustments will be made against repayment of the loan. Another area touched on by the adviser was a reciprocal arrangement under which electricity from Bhutan could be transshipped (or tans-poled) across India to Bangladesh to make up for the huge shortfall that exists, again without fees. Trade between Bangladesh and Nepal is supposed to be benefited by mutually agreed transshipment arrangements but while we are seeing a lot in terms of export volumes rising to the seven sister states of India, nothing much appears to be transpiring on the Nepal front. The Bhutanese king's recent visit led to several trade agreements, all of which will be largely dependent on India allowing cross border trade to take place. The writer can be reached at E-mail: mahmudrahman@gmail.com