Home ›› 28 Feb 2023 ›› Nation
Importers of Dinajpur's Hili Land Port have been discouraged to import fruits through the port due to various reasons including some complications in determining the duty of the products by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in the past seven years.
According to the customs authority, there is no ban on fruit import through the port as long as the importers follow the guidelines NBR.
Although other products are imported through Hili port, fruits such as apples, pineapples, grapes, peaches, oranges, and mangoes have not been imported for 7 years. Thus the local fruit sellers have to transport and sell the fruits imported through Benapole, Bhomra, and Sonamasjid ports.
Including the labour and transportation cost, the product prices go up by Tk 10-20 per kg and affect the retail market.
Zahidul Islam, a fruit seller at the Hili port market, said “Earlier the fruits imported through Hili port were supplied all over the country including Dhaka. The wholesalers buy the fruits imported through other land ports and store them in Birampur from where we buy and sell them here.”
Another fruit seller Atiyar Rahman said, “Grapes are sold for Tk 250 per kg, oranges at Tk 200 per kg, malta at Tk 200-220 per kg, pomegranate at Tk 250 per kg. If these fruits were imported through Hili port, the price would have been lower by Tk 10-20 per kg.”
Enamul Haque Khan, the owner of M/s Khan & Sons Agency of Hili Port, said that in 2017, the NBR decided the amount of goods that can be imported from India based on the number of wheels of trucks, so the importers have been discouraged from importing fruits through this port.
He said, according to the decision of NBR, the importers can import 16 metric tonnes of orange and malta, 17 metric tonnes of grapes, pomegranates and apples, and 20 metric tonnes of mangoes on 6-wheeler trucks. While on the other hand, they can import 20 metric tonnes of oranges, malta and grapes, and 24 metric tonnes of pomegranates, apples and mangoes on 10 or more wheeler trucks.
Enamul further explained that even if it is not possible to import the mentioned amount of fruits fixed by NBR in 6-wheeler trucks, the duty has to be paid in full. “This is why importers have not been importing fruits through Hili port.”
Hili Customs C&F Agents Association's port affairs secretary Rabiul Islam Sweet said most of the fruits are cultivated in India’s Nashik, Nagpur, Delhi, Kashmir and Kolkata. “Those regions are far from Hili port which increases the transportation cost. The distance from Kolkata to Benapole, Bhomra, and Sonamasjid ports are closer than that to Hili port.”
He further added that Since the opening of the Padma Bridge, Bangladeshi trucks carrying fruit from those ports can reach Dhaka in less than five hours. However, it takes six-seven hours for trucks to reach Dhaka from Hili port. As a result, importers are showing reluctance to import fruits through Hili.
Hili customs station revenue officer Sukanta Das said the department will provide all sorts of assistance if anyone is interested in importing fruits following the guidelines of NBR.
