Ramgarh land port to be new gateway for export

The trade between Bangladesh and north-eastern states of India will increase by several times once the Ramgarh Land Port in Khagrachari comes into operation.

Communication with Chittagong Port will be easy once the land port is opened. At present, the infrastructure of the port is being developed. The National Board of Revenue issued a notification on Monday last, announcing a new customs station at the Ramgarh land port.

According to the notification, the Ramgarh Land Customs Station was announced on 10 acres of land at Ramgarh upazila in Khagrachari. The customs station of this land port is bounded by the Maitri Bridge on the Feni River to the north, homesteads and croplands to the south, Roads and Highways Division Road to the east and the Feni River and the Indian border to the west.

Bangladesh Land Port Authority announced a land port at Ramgarh on November 7, 2010. This land port is situated on the border between Ramgarh and Sabram in Tripura of India. The India-Bangladesh Friendship Bridge-1 has been built on the Feni River at Ramgarh’s Mahamani border for the land port.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated the bridge on March 9 last year. India considers this bridge as a gateway to Seven Sisters, the seven underdeveloped north-eastern states of

the neighbouring country.

Ramgarh land port is awaiting inauguration. Immigration will start here so that people can also travel. Bangladeshis would be able to go to India for advanced treatment through this land port at a low cost. Export-import of goods between the two countries will also increase. Once the Ramgarh land port becomes fully operational, the people of the two countries will benefit in the fields of trade, commerce, higher education and culture.

The transhipment goods from the Chittagong Port, which is 112km away from the land port, will reach Sabram in Tripura in just three hours. As per the plan, the port was supposed to be operational in September last year. Due to some problems, it got delayed. The NBR announced the customs station after solving all the problems. Bangladeshi businessmen are eyeing opportunities to export cosmetics, ceramic and melamine products, cement, bricks, processed food, tobacco products, dried fish and other products to Seven Sisters including Tripura through this port.