Old auction shed at Ctg Port being removed

The Chittagong Custom House has recently started emptying the old auction shed at the Chittagong Port, following repeated requests from the port authorities.

They have started transferring the products lying in the old auction shed for the last 30-40 years to the new auction shed since November 7, according to sources concerned.

Chittagong Port sources said around 93 per cent of the country’s total import and export activities are carried out through the Chittagong Port. Recently, India has started using the port as a transit point while transporting goods to its eastern states, which has increased the busyness at the port. Although private off-docks have been built several times in the past to increase the container handling capacity of the port, it has failed to increase the port’s capacity significantly. Therefore, the port authorities are constructing three more bay terminals.

The sources said the old auction shed of Chattogram customs spreads over five acres of land inside the port. As a result, the port was losing annual revenue worth Tk 150 crore. That is why the port authorities have been requesting the customs to remove the old auction shed from the port for a long time. The customs authorities have started removing the products from the shed this week.

According to the port sources, a meeting was held in the presence of the principal secretary of the prime minister at the Chittagong Port on July 28 last. In that meeting, a committee was formed under the leadership of the divisional commissioner’s office to resolve the outstanding issues between the port and customs authorities. According to the recommendation of that committee, the decision was made to remove the old auction shed from the port area.

The sources said the Chittagong Port Authority has the plan to build a new yard by demolishing the old auction shed. For this reason, the port authorities built a new shed in its own place next to the stadium in 2016. But the customs authorities did not destroy, auction or transfer their products to the new shed from the old shed during so many years.

In the old auction shed, many items are 30 to 40 years old and covered with trees and wild vines. As the space was not properly utilised, the port was being deprived of foreign exchange earnings worth Tk 150 crore annually, claimed the port sources.

But Chittagong Customs has been arguing for a long time that there are some pending cases with the High Court over the products in the old shed. Most of the products are spoiled and not eligible for auction. There are expired chemicals which cannot be destroyed due to various complications.

Chittagong Port Secretary Md Omor Faruk told The Business Post that after many years, the space at the port is being emptied. Once the space is vacant, the port’s container handling capacity will increase by 5 lakh TEUs a year.

Chittagong Customs House Commissioner Fyzur Rahman told The Business Post that goods from the old auction shed have been transferred to the new shed from November 7 last. The products which are eligible for auction will be auctioned and the rest will be destroyed. The shed will be vacated by November 22.