Call for special allocation in budget for Chittagong

The business leaders of Chittagong want special allotment for infrastructure development of the port city and the port in the upcoming budget.
Severe gas crisis is restricting many new industries to start operations in the city, said Mahbubul Alam, president of Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI).
The only pipeline used to supply gas to Chittagong is insufficient to meet the increasing demand, he said. Construction of the new pipeline from Bakhrabad has started long ago, but that has not yet reached Feni, Alam said.
So the upcoming budget should have a special allocation for the new pipeline, he said.
Alam suggested the government should widen the tax net to get more revenue by finding new taxpayers instead of increasing the tax burden upon the existing ones.
He said many investors will agree to import device and machine to set up power stations, if the government exempts tax on such imports.
He also urged the withdrawal of 25 percent tariff on import of electrical transformers, which are used in mills and industries.
Alam urged the government to plan a budget for economic development and not to use that for political gains ahead of the elections.
The CCCI president also suggested increasing the range of turnover tax from the current Tk 24 lakh to Tk 30 lakh.
The international business community knows Bangladesh for the Chittagong port, AM Mahabub Chowdhury, acting president of Chittagong Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told The Daily Star.
He said special allotment should be kept in the upcoming budget for the development of the port.
There must be a dedicated lane for the port, and its automation should be implemented in true sense to improve productivity, Chowdhury said.
An eight-line dedicated way for trucks should be built from Barek Building to Navy Gate, as dilapidated conditions of the roads have been hurting containers handling in the port, he said.
In the last fiscal year, revenue earning from the port was around Tk 1,528 crore and from the Chittagong Customs House it was around Tk 22,532 crore, he said.
At least 10 percent of the income of the port and the customs should be allocated for their own development, he said.
Chowdhury also said the range of individual tax waiver should be increased from the current Tk 2 lakh to Tk 3 lakh and corporate tax should be reduced to 35 percent from 42 percent.
He said the range of paying 10 percent supplementary tax should be increased from Tk 2 crore to Tk 5 crore.
Bangladeshi ship owners should enjoy reduced bank interest rates, said Kamal Hayat, senior vice chairman of Bangladesh Shipping Agents' Association.
The present interest rate is 16 percent to 18 percent, which should be reduced to half to encourage the sector, Hayat said.
The government has not yet introduced the shipping sector as an industry, he said.
The sector, which is the country's one of the biggest foreign currency earners and has the potential to achieve a high growth, should be given preference in the budget for 2013-14, he said.
Chittagong is called the commercial capital, but the city has been neglected for a long time, he said.
The government should keep a lump sum allotment for the weak readymade garment industries that are struggling to comply with regulations, said Nasir Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, first vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
“As a businessperson of Chittagong, I think Chittagong is being ignored in budgetary allocation for years,” he said.
"If the government spends a fraction of income of Chitta-gong port for the development of the port and the city, it will be sufficient."