Dhaka-Delhi cargo crosses border

The maiden direct cargo trip from Dhaka to Delhi crossed the Benapole-Petrapole frontier Sunday, officials said.  
The long-haul trip on nearly 4000-kilometre roadway between the two capitals under the Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicle Agreement (MVA) started on Saturday evening with a container of readymade garments flagged off from a ceremony at Motijheel depot of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC).
Sources said the first-of-its-kind direct cargo run completed Bangladesh-side journey of 383 kms in 16 hours and crossed border at Benapole around 12noon.
It is likely to reach Kolkata on Sunday night, a day before the previously scheduled completion of formalities at Petrapole on the Indian side.
Earlier, the almost two-week return journey of cargo vehicle was planned to cross borders on Monday to inaugurate Indian-side journey Tuesday.
Sources said the extra day will now be used to refurnish the cargo for the inaugural day for branding Bangladesh.
They said formalities on Benapole and Petrapole border customs stations completed smoothly.
To cross the border, the cargo has to place documents like route permit received by the Indian Road Transport Ministry, invoice of cargo-packing list necessary for shipment along with information about persons and vehicles accompanying the trial run for getting the go.
The Indian side, however, released the cargo without customs clearance at Petrapole due to closure of banks on weekend.
Officials on the trans-border journey said it was decided that the regular customs duty be paid in Delhi for the container.
Cargo-team members said the journey from Dhaka has so far been smooth except at Arichaghat where it had to wait in a long queue for ferry crossing.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges and BRTC along with two operators-Expo Freight Ltd (EFL) and Nazrul Transport Agency - are conducting the trial run of cargo vehicle after a similar trial run completed by the Indian side in November 2015 to send goods through Bangladesh to Agartala.
The BBIN MVA was signed for seamless journey of private, passenger and cargo vehicles with an expectation of an increase in connectivity and intra-regional trade in four South Asian countries.
It is estimated in the MVA statement that almost 60 per cent intra-regional trade would increase in South Asia and over 30 per cent with the rest of the world with effectiveness of the deal.
Though the four-nation transport deal is supposed to introduce seamless movement of all modes of vehicles among the four member-countries, the latest trial run is being conducted within two countries.
Asked about this, Road Transport and Highways Secretary MAN Siddique said after completing the trial run with India, next cargo trial run will be conducted with Nepal.
"As Bhutan is yet to complete ratification process of MVA, there would be needed some time to arrange the trial run," he said.
The secretary, however, disagreed the claim that trial trip cargo vehicle between India and Bangladesh is bilateral, saying: "BBIN MVA only allows direct operation of cargo vehicles between two to more countries."
Asked about goods and cost-effectiveness of running direct cargo vehicle, Chowdhury Kaiser Mohammad Riyadh, head of Compliance and Project of EFL Bangladesh, said it is expected to reduce both time and cost.
"How much business- friendliness and value addition would be possible from the cargo service can be ascertained after completing the trial run," he told the FE over phone from the border.
Mr Kaiser, one of the members of the 8-member team, said issues like tolls, fuel cost, waiting time at different points etc are the issues counting in the journey.
The Bangladesh cargo is likely to start journey for Delhi from Kolkata through Jharkhand-Bihar-Uttar Pradesh after an inaugural ceremony on Tuesday when a passenger bus trial run between Kolkata and Khulna will also be launched.
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