NBR wants same fees for Bhutan's transit trial as Indian cargo

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has proposed applying same fees and charges that are levied on Indian cargo for Bhutan's first transit trial through Bangladesh, officials said.

The revenue board this week sought opinion from the Finance Division on whether the fees and charges applicable to transit cargo of India can be imposed on cargoes from Bhutan using Bangladesh's territory.

Although Bangladesh and Bhutan signed a transit agreement two and a half years ago, the charges and fees for the transit of goods have yet to be fixed.

A finance division official told the FE that they have received a letter from the NBR in this regard and is now scrutinising the NBR's proposal.

Sources said Bangladesh and Bhutan signed an agreement on the movement of traffic-in-transit on March 22, 2023. And at a bilateral commerce secretary-level meeting in April 2024 in Thimpu, the two sides agreed to conduct two trial runs at a 'convenient time' to implement the deal.

In early October, the ministry of commerce informed the NBR that Bhutan has designated a company to carry out a trial run. In the first week of September, a Bhutan-bound container has already been shipped from Thailand towards Chittagong port.

Officials said the container will enter Bangladesh through Chittagong port and then be transported by truck to Burimari land port before departing for Bhutan through Indian territories.

The container has already reached the Chittagong port and is waiting for completion of necessary procedures to continue its journey towards Burimari land port.

Officials said that under Clause 7 of the protocol of the agreement, a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) was supposed to be formed for smooth implementation, monitoring and co-ordination of the agreement and the protocol.

However, commerce ministry sources said the JTC has yet to be formed. As such, fees and charges for the transit could not be fixed until now.

Sources also said the NBR held an inter-ministerial meeting on October 23 to decide on the fees and charges for the trial run of Bhutan's cargo.

The meeting concluded that since the nature of transit between Bangladesh and India as well as Bangladesh and Bhutan is similar, the fees and charges for Bhutan can be similar to the charges applicable to Indian goods in transit.

Also, the meeting decided to seek opinions from the Finance Division and permission from the finance adviser before finalising the fees and charges for the trial run of Bhutanese cargo in transit.

In the case of transit of Indian cargoes, Bangladesh imposes several fees, including Tk 30 as document processing fees for each consignment; Tk 20 as transhipment fees for each tonne of cargoes; Tk 100 as security charge for each tonne of cargoes; Tk 85 per kilometre as escort charge, Tk 100 for each tonne as miscellaneous administrative charge, and Tk 254 as container scanning fee.

Additionally, road use tolls are collected as per the rates set by the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges.

syful-islam@outlook.com