A plan to revive Chittagong-Jeddah shipping route to facilitate journey of Bangladeshis to Saudi Arabia for performing hajj has been shelved nearly by one year in absence of initiatives by the ministries concerned, officials said.
Once there was an arrangement for travelling to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) from the country's Chittagong port through maritime route for performing hajj.
The government started considering reviving the Chittagong-Jeddah shipping route to facilitate Bangladeshis' travel to KSA for performing hajj following the increasing demand from the intending hajjis.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Shipping (MoS) and the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) agreed to carry out joint efforts to revive the shipping route.
Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said his ministry is ready to execute the plan.
He also said as a mother ministry, the MoRA should take initiatives for implementing the plan.
There is no problem on their part to execute the plan, the minister added.
"We are ready to provide ships if the Chittagong-Jeddah shipping route is revived for carrying intending Bangladeshi hajjis to Saudi Arabia," he told the FE.
A discussion was held between the Bangladesh government high ups and the Saudi officials during the hajj last year in the KSA.
And based on the positive outcome of the discussion, the Bangladesh government asked the official concerned of Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh to send a report about consent of the KSA.
A high official of the MoS, who was present at the discussion, told the FE that they were yet to get any response from the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh.
An official of the MoRA termed the plan a 'good one'.
He admitted that till date no concrete steps were taken by the ministry.
"If we get directive from the high ups of our ministry, then we will start working on it," joint secretary of the MoRA Md Hafiz Uddin told the FE.
An official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Middle East desk) expressed inability to inform the FE whether there was any positive development regarding the issue.
President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Md Shafiul Islam (Mohiuddin) said if the Chittagong-Jeddah shipping route, if revived, it will help people to travel to Saudi Arabia at less cost for performing hajj.
"I think it will be a good initiative if people have the opportunity to travel to Saudi Arabia by ships for performing hajj at less expenditure as that is comparatively cheaper than air fare," he told the FE.
"We don't see any problem if there is Chittagong-Jeddah shipping route for Bangladeshi citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia for performing hajj," secretary general of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB) M Shahadat Hossain Taslim, told the FE.
He said travelling to Saudi Arabia by ships will reduce the cost that will encourage many people to perform the holy hajj.
For performing hajj, a Bangladeshi citizen has to give Tk120,000-Tk 130,000 air fare for traveling to the KSA for performing Hajj.
If there is shipping route between Chittagong and Jeddah, the travel cost will come down less than around fifty per cent of the air fare cost.
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