MCCI calls for a quick fix to air cargo mishandling

The new leaders of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday urged the government to improve the handling of goods at warehouses and the cargo village at the Dhaka airport.

Incidents of missing or thefts of goods from the warehouses and the cargo village are reported every day at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the leaders said.

“Goods are still stockpiled under the open sky, due to a lack of proper warehousing,” Nihad Kabir, president of MCCI, said at a meeting with Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed at the latter's secretariat office in Dhaka.

“The government should take emergency actions to stop mismanagement at the airport so that businessmen do not face problems in export and import,” she said.

The MCCI chief said investment from home and abroad has been increasing gradually, but not at the expected rate. The higher cost of doing business is one of the major barriers to a higher inflow of investment, she added.

Bangladesh needs investments equivalent to 35 percent of its GDP, but the rate stands at 28 percent for the country, Kabir said.

The special economic zones should be made operational soon so that businesses can invest in those areas, the MCCI president said.

“The development activities of the special economic zones are still confined to paperwork,” she said. The government has been developing 100 such zones across the country to attract investment from home and abroad.

She suggested the government give cash incentives to the exports of some goods such as leather and leather goods, pharmaceuticals and light-engineering, for diversification of exports.

M Anis Ud Dowla, member of the MCCI committee, also discussed the corruption and poor management at the airport's cargo village.

The commerce minister said: “The situation at the airport is unfortunate. Such a situation cannot be allowed. Almost everybody complains about the mismanagement there.”

Tabith Awal, another MCCI committee member, said the good companies are facing the challenges of counterfeit and fake products, especially in pharmaceuticals and seeds packaging.

The consumers and real producers are becoming the victims, he added.

A section of dishonest people are even producing and marketing fake insulin, a widely used lifesaving injection for diabetic patients, he said.