Stuck in a time warp
Easy transport systems by river and road had influenced many corporate houses and banks to set up their offices in Khatunganj, turning the place into a special trading zone
Time took charm off Khatunganj, once an important business hub in the country. This is how Mahbubul Alam, president of Khatunganj Trade and Industries Association, portrayed the present condition of the wholesale market.
Easy transport systems by river and road had influenced many corporate houses and banks to set up their offices in Khatunganj, turning the place into a special trading zone, he said.
“Traders used to come here to import goods through Chittagong Port in the past,” said Alam. Doing business without Khatunganj was impossible to think at the time.
But many businessmen who were part of the market since its inception have left the place.
Importers now distribute almost 50 percent of imported goods among business houses without using any market such as Khatunganj, said Alam, who studied sociology at Chittagong University.
“Traders stored imported goods in the past and could sell a maximum of 5,000 tonnes in a year. Now it takes only three to four months to sell 12,000 tonnes, as people's consumption is increasing by the day,” Alam said.
Alam marked illegal activities of some fraudsters as one of factors for that. The frauds use fake delivery order (DO) accounts to buy products and sometimes produce cheques that banks bounce due to lack of money, he said.
The frauds talk new traders into putting money in some products that have no market demand. Finally, the traders had to sell the products at a much lower price to pare their losses, making the market volatile, he said.
“It has been continuing since 1986. We have asked the administration to establish a police camp here to save traders from this malpractice.”
Some businessmen in the market store goods through the DO system. “It is unethical,” he said, “The government has decided to establish another system against the DO. We accepted this decision. I hope all of us will cooperate with the government to let the system run successfully.”
Khatunganj is also suffering from infrastructural problems. Truckers demand Tk 1,600 to carry goods from the port to Khatunganj, which is Tk 400 higher than they charge for Feni, Alam said. The 100-year-old roads are nearly out of order now. There is no proper traffic system and parking zone here, he added.
Alam also pointed to a shortage of storehouses and said: “We have to go to Sitakunda and Mirersarai to store our goods.”
“The authorities are aware of these problems. The government should take steps to develop the roads soon and help the market grow further,” Alam said.
He also suggested the government build such a policy so that they can get bank loans on easy terms.
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