Transit Bangladesh to Bhutan with toll

After India, this time Bhutan is getting transit facility in Bangladesh against customs duty. The country has to pay 2 taka 1 paise per kilometer for every tonne of goods transported by land using Chittagong and Mongla ports. Recently, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges sent the proposal for this transit fee for Bhutan to the Ministry of Commerce. Tapankanti Ghosh, Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce went to Thimphu with this proposal of transit fee. It is said that the tariff rate will be determined through discussions at the Commerce Secretary level meeting between the two countries.

An official of the Ministry of Commerce said that the issue of transit is getting more importance in this meeting of the secretary level. Bhutan has recently said that it wants to transport goods through transit facilities in Bangladesh. A ‘trial run’ has been proposed on the part of Bangladesh before finally transporting the goods in transit. Through that trial run, the capacity of the proposed routes for transit will be verified. And the road department has fixed a tariff for the trial run at the initial stage, which will be finalized at the secretary level meeting in Thimphu. Those concerned said that an agreement was signed between Bangladesh and Bhutan in March last year to provide transit facilities against the toll. Under the agreement titled ‘Protocol of the Agreement on the Movement of Traffic in Transit between Bangladesh and Bhutan’, Bhutan is getting the opportunity of import-export trade with third countries using the water, land and air routes of Bangladesh. According to the agreement, the first route for goods in transit by road is from Bhutan via Samsi, Gomtu, Fuentsling, Gelepu through Burimari land port and via Rangpur-Bogra-Hatikumrul-Dhaka to Chittagong port; Similarly, the second route will reach Chittagong Port via Dhaka via Phulbari-Banglabandha border via Samsi, Gelepu; The third route will reach Dhaka via the Tamabil border in Sylhet from Gelepu; The fourth route will reach Dhaka via Tamabil in Sylhet from Gelepu to Benapole and the fifth route will reach Dhaka via Mymensingh via Samsi in Bhutan via Gomtu, Phuentsling, Gelepu via Nalitabari-Nakugaon land port in Sherpur. In addition to these five routes by road, two more railway routes have been added to the protocol for import-export using the infrastructure facilities of Chittagong and Mongla ports through the transportation of goods by rail. These routes are 1. Samsi-Gomtu-Fuentsling-Gelepu-Chilahati-Syedpur-Parvatipur-Santahar-Ishwardi-Bheramara-Jesore-Nawapara-Khulna-Mongla and 2. Thimphu via Chittagong-Laksam-Comilla-Akhaura-Dhaka-Sirajganj-Bogra-Lalmonirhat-Burimari-Samsi. Officials said, being a landlocked country, Bhutan has to complete its import-export trade through Haldia seaport in Kolkata, India. However, the cost of carrying out trade activities using the Haldia sea port from Kathmandu, the capital of Bhutan, will be reduced to half of the cost of importing and exporting using Bangladesh’s Mongla and Chittagong ports.