Tk 52cr project to automate Benapole port

Businesses have demanded faster completion of a Tk 52 crore project the government has taken to upgrade Benapole land port.

The port authority plans to install 1,400 close-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, automate its paperwork and build a boundary wall under the project that started at the end of October this year.

“We have already started installing the CCTV cameras to ensure foolproof security at the port,” Belal Hossain Chowdhury, commissioner of Benapole Customs House, told The Daily Star yesterday.

Training of two members of each of the clearing and forwarding agents will start at the beginning of next year to complete the automation process, said Prodosh Kanti Das, director for traffic at the port.

“Despite being late to go for automation, it is a matter of great relief for us that the port authority has finally taken up such a project,” said Aminul Hoq, vice president of Benapole Export Import Committee.

The new project will not only increase trade, but also make the country's biggest land port more secured, he said.

However, the port users said the progress of work of the project was very slow, something the authority should give more importance on.

Every day, around 500 to 600 goods-laden trucks go through the port, from which the government earns Tk 6,000 crore in revenue every year.

Trade worth Tk 30,000 crore takes place between Bangladesh and India through the port every year and the amount will increase with time, port users said.

“It takes only three hours for a truck to reach Benapole after loading goods from Kolkata,” said Mofizur Rahman Sajan, president of the Benapole C&F Agents Association. The importers feel very comfortable to use the port, which is only 84 kilometres away from Kolkata, he said.

The government should complete the automation process as soon as possible, which is a long-pending demand of the port users, said Matiar Rahman, chairman of India-Bangladesh Land Port Sub Committee.