Home ›› 04 Oct 2022 ›› Back
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has imposed five new conditions for Samit Alliance Port Limited (SAPL) to handle import and export cargoes at Inland Water Container Terminal (IWCT) in Muktarpur of Munshiganj.
SAPL will have to comply with the conditions related to infrastructural development within the next six months, said a gazette notification published on Thursday.
Earlier in 2020, SAPL was permitted to handle goods on six terms which it has to continue following and also obey all terms of IWCT Policy, 2015.
As per the new conditions, SAPL will have to install enough scale and waybridge, container, vehicle scanner, CCTV camera, lighting system, fire-fighting equipment and other scanning machines at IWCT.
Besides, storages for preserving auctioned goods and perishable goods, examination yard and shed should be constructed separately and adequate fire extinguish system should be installed.
Commissioner of Pangaon Custom House will submit a report to the NBR within six months after monitoring the progress of SAPL over following the fresh terms. NBR will take legal action if SAPL fails to obey the conditions which will come into effect from Thursday.
According to the notification, the opportunity to handle imports and exports has been increased at the port. Previously, only 37 products were permitted to import through the port but now all products under HS code as per the chapters will be allowed to import. From now on, all HS coded products of alive animal chapter-1, animal produced products of chapter-5 will be imported through the port.
Besides, plant and plant produced goods of chapter6-14, all mineral products of chapter 25 and chapter 26-27 only except HS code 25.01. organic, inorganic chemical products of chapter 28-29, fertiliser based all products of chapter 31, rawhide of chapter 41, wood and wood produced products of chapter 44, pile of paper of chapter 47, cotton of chapter 52 and iron, steel made products of chapter 72, will be also imported and exported through the port.
Pangaon Customs will ensure that SAPL has implemented all infrastructural facilities inside the IWCT as per the conditions before the launching of bulk and break-bulk handling activities along with the containers at the port.
Samit Alliance Port that was established on December 6, 2003, is one of the top company in the private sector which operates 20.50 per cent of containerized exports and 10.50 per cent of import volume in the country. Besides in 2020, SAPL constructed first naval terminal at the bank of Dhaleshwari River in Muktarpur of Munshiganj in country’s private sector for off-dock services, easy and cheap cargo transportation from Dhaka to Chattogram.
SAPL provides services as Inland Container Depot (ICD) with facilities for Empty Container Storage and Container Freight Station (CFT) for handling both import and export cargo.
It also offers a Bonded Area spread over 25.0 acres of land, 6.5 kms away from the multi-purpose berths of the Chittagong Port. Ocean Containers Limited and Cemcor Limited are its two subsidiaries.
Unused cotton fabric scraps locally known as jhut of garments sector was transported from Bangladesh to India on river route for the first time on the last week of August. Among 1 lakh metric ton of garment waste cotton exports, around 111 metric tonnes of waste cotton was exported on river route through the Samit Alliance Port in the first consignment. On the other hand, Bangladesh is importing cotton from India using the river route which would play a vital role in the garments sector.
Moreover, handling of crops, rice and corn cargoes also started at the port and till March, a total of 34 ships were operated at the port. Recently, this port became popular for importing raw cotton from India.
