Customs House, Chattogram is dragging its feet over paying dues to Chittagong Port Authority (CPA). Now the dues have reached Tk 138.53 crore at the rate of 15 and 20 per cent on goods sold at different auctions.
The port authority sent letters years after years to collect dues, but it has yet to get any response from the Customs House in this regard.
The dues against selling goods at auctions stood at Tk 138.53 crore till September 30 this year, port sources told The Business Post.
From April 4, 2012 to October this year, 46 letters were sent to the Customs House to collect dues. And, there is a provision to pay the port's share within 10 days of delivery of goods sold at auction. But the customs is not complying with the legal matter.
The Customs House paid more than Tk 3 crore in 2011 and over Tk 1 crore in early 2014. Since then, no more shares have been paid by the Customs House and current dues also include prior to 2014, sources say.
The port authority sources say that as per the decision taken at a meeting held at the CPA board room on January 6, 2013 in the presence of the chairman of Internal Resources Division and the secretary of the Ministry of Shipping, the port authority has been clearing shares of the customs authority from the auction.
But the customs authority has not been clearing the shares of the authority for a long time.
Customs House sources say that there is no allocation in this purpose. That is why they have become unable to pay such shares of selling goods at auctions.
Senior port officials seeking anonymity said that in the meeting held at the CPA board room on March 15, 2018 with the then shipping minister in the chair, it was decided that a separate allocation would be made in the next budget to clear dues.
Since then, around five years have passed but the customs authority has yet to take necessary steps to clear dues.
Another decision came from another meeting held at CPA board room on August 6 the same year with the minister in the chair, that two separate codes will be created in the name of customs and port for clearing different shares in due time from goods sold at the NBR auction.
CPA says they know nothing about the progress of implementation of this decision either. As a result, the issue of payment of shares remains unresolved as this decision has not been implemented, which in turns leading the customs a huge amount of owing to the port.
Talking to The Business Post, CPA secretary Omor Faruk said, “Both the port and the customs house are the government entities. The port authority sends letters to customs house every month. But still the auction share is not being paid over the years.”
“The authority sent letters to NBR for payment of shares but they did not take any measure. Earlier, customs paid some amount in 2011 and 2014. Since then no more money has been paid yet,” he said.
Regarding the non-payment of shares, the officials of the auction department said that actually it is not true that the shares are not being paid to the port authority.
This matter was discussed in an internal meeting between us. The port will get a 15 per cent share on the total sales revenue if it is a container and 20 per cent if it is other products outside the container, they added.
Regarding this, Chattogram Custom House Joint Commissioner Tariq Hassan told The Business Post, “Chittagong Port will receive an amount from the customs house for the auction share. However, the port will not get the amount that they are claiming. They have calculated the debt at the rate of 60 per cent of the sale proceeds of the auction, but in reality, they will not get that amount.”
“There are some legal complications. I have spoken to the chairman of the port a few days ago regarding this matter. We will try to resolve the issue by holding a meeting between the two organisations,” he further added.
The port sources also said that they request the customs authorities in a written letter every month to quickly complete the auction and destruction of auctionable, destructible, and explosive goods lying inside the port for a long time.
A huge amount of undischarged cargo remains physically inside the port yard or shed, even though it is handed over to the customs authority for auction or destruction as per existing law.
As a result, the operational activities of the port are seriously disrupted. Currently there are 8,445 auctionable containers within the port and there are 363 cars eligible for auction, the sources included.
Note that these goods include 10 to 15 years old auctionable goods and vehicles. As these goods are remaining unauctioned for a long time, they are becoming spoiled and have no commercial value, which is causing a loss of huge government revenue, they added.
