Land port development: Five out of six projects not ending in time

To ease overland trade with India, Bangladesh Land Port Authority is now implementing six projects for the development of linked land ports. These projects were scheduled to end in June.

However, given the rate of progress rate of these projects, probably only one of them will be completed within the stipulated time. The rest of the projects will not end within the deadline. For this the land port authority has taken initiative to extend the time limit of those five projects by one year.

The land port authority alleged that objections were raised from the Indian side regarding infrastructural construction within 150 yards of the zero line on Bangladesh-India border. For this reason, the project moved slow.

However, the knot has started to untangle recently. Besides, it took quite long to finalise contractors following the tender bid process. For these causes the projects could not be finished in time.

The list of those six projects, running under land port authority, include development of Gubrakura-Karaitali land port in Mymensingh, Balla land port in Habiganj, Dhanua-Kamalpur land port in Jamalpur and Bilonia land port in Feni. And, the last project is construction of Benapole cargo terminal.

Apart from that, under Bangladesh regional connectivity project development work of Satkhira’s Bhomra, Sylhet’s Sheola, Khagrachhari’s Ramgarh and Jashore’s Benapole land port are also underway.

All of the projects were taken in 2017 and 2018. Of them, only Gubrakura-Karaitali land port development project will be completed within next June. The progress of all other projects is ranged between 9 to 36 per cent. Once these projects are complete, freight trucks will be able to load and unload goods easily.

When asked why these projects are not ending in time, Md Alamgir, chairman of land port authority said, “Indian border security force had objected to infrastructural construction within 150 yards of no man’s land (zero line). Sometimes they ask about what kind of infrastructure is being built or want to see the designs. We are advancing the implementation work of these projects after solving these issues.”

According to India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement of 1974, no infrastructural construction can be built within 150 yards of no man’s land. Later in 2017, scope for building infrastructure within that area was created based on discussion or approval between the countries.

In such cases, the issues have been mentioned to resolve through joint communication from both countries’ top leader. For that, both countries will send their respective infrastructural designs to others for reviewing.

Cargo vehicle terminal construction project of Benapole land port was taken in July of 2019. This Tk 2.9 billion (290 crore) project was supposed to end in June of the current year.

As per land port authority’s latest statistics, only Tk 264.4 million (26 crore 44 lakh) has been spent in two and a half years till last December. The progress of the project stands at 9.13 per cent only. Tender calling process for road and land development work and construction of parking yard under this project has not ended yet.

For the development of Balla land port in Habiganj, a project was taken in 2017 at the cost of Tk 490 million (49 crore). Various infrastructure of this project including warehouse, shed and watch tower could not be constructed yet. Besides, there were conflicts with local people regarding the acquired land.

For this reason, out of the total allocated budget on this project only Tk 90 million (9 crore) has been spent until now. The condition of Dhanua-Kamalpur land port also is the same. Progress of this Tk 190-miliion (19 crore) project is just 26 per cent.

However, the Bilonia land port development project has advanced a bit. Some essential infrastructure as well as scaling machine and yard has been constructed already. The progress rate of this project is 36 per cent.

There is no progress in Satkhira’s Bhomra, Sylhet’s Sheola, Khagrachhari’s Ramgarh and Jashore’s Benapole land port development projects under Bangladesh regional connectivity project either.

* This report appeared in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Nourin Ahmed Monisha