Shipping Adviser Brigadier General (R.) Dr. M Sakhawat Hussain on Saturday said that the government is formulating a National Port Strategy to chalk out the long-term growth of the country’s land, river and seaports.
The ShippingAdviser made this remark while speaking as the chief guest of a workshop on ‘Customs and Port Management: Problems, Prospects, and Way Forward’, held at the Chittagong Port Authority Auditorium.
Support to Sustainable Graduation Project (SSGP) of the Economic Relations Division (ERD) organized theworkshop in collaboration with the Chittagong Port Authority.
Special Assistant of the Ministry of Finance Dr. Anisuzzaman Chowdhury; Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping Mohammed Yousuf; Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Md. Abdur Rahman Khan, FCMA; Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority Rear Admiral S. M.Moniruzzaman; and Additional Commissioner of the Chattogram Nusrat Sultana attended the event as special guests.
ERD Secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky chaired the workshop.
‘The National Port Strategy is being formulated. Hopefully, the strategy will be finalized by the end of this year’, the Shipping Adviser said during the event.
Regarding the recently revised tariff structure at the Chattogram port, the shipping adviser said that the government had decided to postpone the roll out of the revised tariff structure for a month.
Special Assistant of the Ministry of Finance Dr. Anisuzzaman Chowdhury, in his speech, called for forming a taskforce comprising all the relevant agencies to expedite the operations of seaports in the country.
Discussants at the workshop called for reviewing the revised tariff structure at the Chattogram port.
Highlighting various steps taken by the government to speed up the customs procedure at ports,Chairman of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) Md. Abdur Rahman Khan, FCMA said that the government had already installed scanners at many of the ports while the provision of ‘Authorized Economic Operator’ had also been introduced.
ERD Secretary Md. Shahriar Kader Siddiky,in his speech, mentioned that Bangladesh’s domestic industries need to improve its level of environmental compliance to meet the challenges of LDC graduation.
Chairman of the Chittagong Port Authority Rear Admiral S M Moniruzzaman said that a deep seaport should be built tofacilitate the mooring of large ships as well asto act as a backup in case of any disruption at the Chattogram port.
