Shipping ministry given authority to deal with transit issues
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Nazmul Ahsan
The government has empowered the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) to deal with the transit issue with India bypassing the 'Allocation of Business' that authorises the commerce ministry to do the similar job, a high official in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
The opinion given separately in this regard by two key ministries -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Ministry of Commerce (MoC) -which have been involved in finalizing the country's position on transit issue for long have been ignored outright, it is alleged.
The re-allocation of responsibility has been done recently, allegedly, under pressure from a top policy maker in the PMO. A working group on transit, headed by a mid-level official at the MoS has also been formed recently in this connection, undermining the MoC and Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC).
The members of the Core Committee on Transit, which already submitted its final report to PMO after a two-year intensive analysis on the pros and cons of transit with India, Nepal and Bhutan, have also been kept in the dark on the latest development, a core committee member said.
The chapter 11 of 'Allocation of Business, 1996' mandated the MoC to deal with any kind of transit trade.
The issue of transit was initially included in the Bangladesh-India Bilateral Trade Agreement in 1972, while Protocol on Inland Water Transit between India and Bangladesh was signed in the same year under the provision of bilateral trade agreement.
Abdul Mannan Hawlader, Secretary, MoS, talking to the FE, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the transfer of responsibility from MoC to MoS to deal with the issue of transit with India.
"The government neither has made any mistake nor it has undermined the role and contribution of any other ministries following its action related to transit," Hawlader told the FE on Monday.
He, however, admitted the bypassing of Allocation of Business, 1996 and said that the issue would be sent to the Cabinet Division tomorrow (Tuesday) for direction and next course of action.
The Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Mustafizur Rahman, who is also a member of the Core Committee on Transit, headed by BTC Chairman Mojibur Rahman, expressed surprise on the latest stance of the government on providing transit to India.
"I cannot understand the logic behind the transfer of responsibility from commerce ministry to shipping ministry to deal with the transit issue. The government should not opt for extending the Water Protocol Agreement, instead of a comprehensive transit agreement on road, rail and waterways with India, Nepal and Bhutan," Mustafiz told the FE on Monday.
He said the Core Committee has submitted its comprehensive report to the government on transit focusing on a 'win-win' situation for both transit provider and user countries.
India wants to get transit and transshipment facilities mainly for carrying cargoes to its 'Seven Sister' states of Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Nepal and Bhutan are also interested to enjoy similar facility for facilitating their external trade.
The core committee has identified nine road routes, nine rail routes, and five waterways for providing transit facilities to India and other neighbouring countries.
However, the committee suggested not awarding the facilities at this stage without necessary development of infrastructures.
"The condition of the designated routes is not good enough to handle transit cargo. The current infrastructure of the land-ports is grossly inadequate. Around US$ 6.33 billion investment is required to make the routes operational, which may take three to four years," the report added.
Another Core Committee member said the government is now in a hurry to provide India with transit facility through waterways, which would be a suicidal for the country as transit in waterways would also involve road and ports of the country.
He said the MoS officials lack expertise on transit issues badly as they had never been involved in the process of transit related matters in the past.
"It is not understandable why the government neither implements the recommendations of the core committee report on transit nor does it make the report public for debate and fine-tuning the findings further," the member said. He said any approach towards providing transit to India on a piecemeal basis would only hurt the interest of the country, adding the Core Committee was also approved by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Earlier, representatives from MoC and MoFA at a meeting in MoS opposed the move of shifting transit related responsibility from MoC to MoS citing the very compulsion under the Business of Allocation.
"They did not pay any heed to our concerns at the meeting as we opposed the decision until the amendment is brought to the existing RoB," a MoFA official indicating top bosses of PMO and MoS, who were present at the meeting, told the FE.
Both MoC and MoFA officials said they placed their arguments in writing to the appropriate authority.
The officials concerned in the commerce ministry remained tight-lipped on the issue, while commerce minister GM Kader declined to make any comment.
The government has empowered the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) to deal with the transit issue with India bypassing the 'Allocation of Business' that authorises the commerce ministry to do the similar job, a high official in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
The opinion given separately in this regard by two key ministries -- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Ministry of Commerce (MoC) -which have been involved in finalizing the country's position on transit issue for long have been ignored outright, it is alleged.
The re-allocation of responsibility has been done recently, allegedly, under pressure from a top policy maker in the PMO. A working group on transit, headed by a mid-level official at the MoS has also been formed recently in this connection, undermining the MoC and Bangladesh Tariff Commission (BTC).
The members of the Core Committee on Transit, which already submitted its final report to PMO after a two-year intensive analysis on the pros and cons of transit with India, Nepal and Bhutan, have also been kept in the dark on the latest development, a core committee member said.
The chapter 11 of 'Allocation of Business, 1996' mandated the MoC to deal with any kind of transit trade.
The issue of transit was initially included in the Bangladesh-India Bilateral Trade Agreement in 1972, while Protocol on Inland Water Transit between India and Bangladesh was signed in the same year under the provision of bilateral trade agreement.
Abdul Mannan Hawlader, Secretary, MoS, talking to the FE, said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina approved the transfer of responsibility from MoC to MoS to deal with the issue of transit with India.
"The government neither has made any mistake nor it has undermined the role and contribution of any other ministries following its action related to transit," Hawlader told the FE on Monday.
He, however, admitted the bypassing of Allocation of Business, 1996 and said that the issue would be sent to the Cabinet Division tomorrow (Tuesday) for direction and next course of action.
The Executive Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) Mustafizur Rahman, who is also a member of the Core Committee on Transit, headed by BTC Chairman Mojibur Rahman, expressed surprise on the latest stance of the government on providing transit to India.
"I cannot understand the logic behind the transfer of responsibility from commerce ministry to shipping ministry to deal with the transit issue. The government should not opt for extending the Water Protocol Agreement, instead of a comprehensive transit agreement on road, rail and waterways with India, Nepal and Bhutan," Mustafiz told the FE on Monday.
He said the Core Committee has submitted its comprehensive report to the government on transit focusing on a 'win-win' situation for both transit provider and user countries.
India wants to get transit and transshipment facilities mainly for carrying cargoes to its 'Seven Sister' states of Arunachal, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. Nepal and Bhutan are also interested to enjoy similar facility for facilitating their external trade.
The core committee has identified nine road routes, nine rail routes, and five waterways for providing transit facilities to India and other neighbouring countries.
However, the committee suggested not awarding the facilities at this stage without necessary development of infrastructures.
"The condition of the designated routes is not good enough to handle transit cargo. The current infrastructure of the land-ports is grossly inadequate. Around US$ 6.33 billion investment is required to make the routes operational, which may take three to four years," the report added.
Another Core Committee member said the government is now in a hurry to provide India with transit facility through waterways, which would be a suicidal for the country as transit in waterways would also involve road and ports of the country.
He said the MoS officials lack expertise on transit issues badly as they had never been involved in the process of transit related matters in the past.
"It is not understandable why the government neither implements the recommendations of the core committee report on transit nor does it make the report public for debate and fine-tuning the findings further," the member said. He said any approach towards providing transit to India on a piecemeal basis would only hurt the interest of the country, adding the Core Committee was also approved by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Earlier, representatives from MoC and MoFA at a meeting in MoS opposed the move of shifting transit related responsibility from MoC to MoS citing the very compulsion under the Business of Allocation.
"They did not pay any heed to our concerns at the meeting as we opposed the decision until the amendment is brought to the existing RoB," a MoFA official indicating top bosses of PMO and MoS, who were present at the meeting, told the FE.
Both MoC and MoFA officials said they placed their arguments in writing to the appropriate authority.
The officials concerned in the commerce ministry remained tight-lipped on the issue, while commerce minister GM Kader declined to make any comment.