Govt moves to revive struggling Pangaon port

The government is taking steps to turn the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal into a profitable port as it is on the verge of closure amid alleged harassment by customs officials and various mismanagement.

The number of ships at the port has declined sharply since September.

According to sources from the Ministry of Shipping, in August of last year, 25 ships anchored at the port. That number decreased to 7 in September. In the following month, October, the number further decreased to just 6.

To address the issue, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister Salman F Rahman along with Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Chief Whip Noor-E-Alam Chowdhury and State Minister for Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury and senior officials made an on-site inspection at the port today.

They also held a meeting with the stakeholders to know the problem and find a way out.

After the meeting, Salman F Rahman told reporters, "We have identified the problems of the port, and we hope to resolve them very soon."

He said, "Despite the decrease in ship arrivals until last September, this port was operational. However, since then, it has been observed to be almost closed. We have convened a meeting today to understand why this is happening and to find solutions."

Efforts will be made to transform the Pangaon port into a profitable institution by providing better services, including cargo handling, to reduce pressure on the road, Salman F Rahman said. The government is working to attract more cargo in order to increase the volume, he said.

The PM's adviser said the handling problem, for which unloading of goods now takes 8-10 days, will be resolved within one month.

Regarding decrease in earnings of workers due to the lack of ships, Salman F Rahman said, "If more cargo ships come to this port, workers will be able to find more employment opportunities, and that's when their problems will be resolved."

An official who attended the meeting on a condition of anonymity told TBS that discussions were held regarding the clearance of goods within a day. "Although it has a significant challenge, efforts will be made by the authorities to implement it," he said.

A demand was placed to make the port more cost-effective, said the official. Besides, there were discussions about constructing a 2-kilometre road to make the port easily accessible, he said. On the other hand, breaking a truck syndicate that causes trouble was also discussed, the official said.

Furthermore, businessmen demanded that customs-related harassment should be stopped. They also urged for quick resolution of other mismanagement issues.

A senior customs official at the Pangaon Customs who preferred not to be named told TBS, "Goods arrive at this port from the Chittagong port, and the consignments stay there for one to two weeks. Then, there is a charge of around $400 for coming here. After adding these two expenses, it becomes financially unviable for importers."

He explained, "It costs Tk25,000 to transport goods via a truck from the Chittagong port, which is less compared to the Pangaon port."

Regarding businesses' allegations against customs officials, he said, "In terms of imports, if we enforce strict measures against misdeclaration, a certain class of businessmen speaks against us."

Similar meeting held earlier

Just a few weeks ago, representatives of businessmen also attended a meeting at the Ministry of Shipping on the same issue.

Regarding the meeting, senior secretary of the Shipping Ministry M Mustafa Kamal told the media that a meeting was held under the chairmanship of the state minister for shipping to resolve the existing problems of the Pangaon customs. In the meeting, importers and customs representatives were present and the importers cited various reasons for reducing imports through the port.

Earlier in 2017, Salman F Rahman took part in an event at the Pangaon port and emphasised the necessity of a bypass road connecting to it.

He had said that the Ministry of Shipping does not need to do much. "It just needs to consider constructing a bypass road. Because time is of the essence when it comes to clearing goods. On the other hand, if someone has a factory in Ashulia or Savar, it takes longer for them to reach Pangaon compared to clearing goods from Chittagong. Therefore, if a bypass road is built, the Pangaon Inland Container Terminal will become even more active," Salman F Rahman had said.

Problems during construction

In 1993, an initiative was taken to construct a river port in Dhaka's Pangaon area aiming to help ease the pressure of cargo movement on the Dhaka-Chittagong railway and highway corridors. At that time, approximately 88 acres of land were acquired. However, due to financial complexities, the initiative could not progress further.

Subsequently, another initiative was taken to construct the terminal again. In July 2005, work began through a project funded by the ADB, with the aim of completing it by June 2007. However, due to various complexities, construction was not possible even during that time.

Later, in June 2012, the construction work was completed. The Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority and the Chittagong Port Authority jointly built the inland terminal at a cost of Tk154 crore.

The terminal has a storage capacity of 3,500 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers and handling of 116,000 TEU containers annually.