NBR Time Release Study
Lengthy process at Benapole hampers Indo-Bangla trade
Excessive time consumption in clearing and releasing goods at the Benapole land port hurts export and import between India and Bangladesh, a study report of the National Board of Revenue said. Delay in releasing goods is detrimental to trade facilitation, deterrent to direct foreign investment and costly to importers and exporters, and ultimately to consumers, it said.
According to the Benapole Time Release Study, the port takes on an average 5 days, 18 hours and 24 minutes to release import cargo and 4 days, 5 hours and 26 minutes for export cargo.
The time taken for releasing the import cargo subjected to follow simplified clearance procedures, however, is significantly short as it takes only 1 day, 1 hour and 26 minutes while the cargo subjected to follow normal procedures takes 6 days and 23 hours, it said.
The biggest chunk of the total time is taken by the clearing and forwarding agents to complete clearance procedures, the study found.
C&F agents, however, rejected the report saying that there was something wrong in the findings of the report as the average time taken at Benapole for releasing cargos was much lower.
‘Around 80 per cent of cargos are released within the day while 20 per cent cargos which are subjected to face 100 per cent physical examination take at best 2-3 days, said Benapole Clearing and Forwarding Agent Association president Shamsur Rahman.
Earlier in a separate TRS study, the revenue board found that the clearance and release of an import cargo took on an average 11 days, 9 hours and 45 minutes while the time taken to release export cargos was 4 days, 22 hours and 38 minutes.
The Benapole TRS study suggested that procedures and practices should be reviewed to remove delays, duplication and unnecessary steps taken by customs, port authorities, other government agencies and C&F agents.
It said that redundant and repetitive processes, manual clearance system, dependency on hard copies of documents were the main reasons for the delay.
‘The time needs to be reduced in order to facilitate legitimate trade between the two countries,’ the report suggested.
The study recommended introduction of a paperless processing system, automated risk assessment system, electronic data interchange method with India for filling truck manifests in advance, separation of the release and clearance process, and reduction of the repetitive handling of documents and streamlining the shed allocation system to facilitate trade between India and Bangladesh through the land port.
According to the study, importers have to pass around 71 to 82 steps to release their goods while exporters need to pass 42 to 45 steps.
The port authorities take 18 hours 42 minutes, customs 13 hours 54 minutes, bank 12 minutes and agents take 4 days, 10 hours and 35 minutes to complete procedures of an import cargo, the study said.
For the clearance and release of an export cargo, 4 hours 49 minutes are needed to complete customs procedures, 13 minutes to clear bank, 5 minutes to finish port procedures and 4 days and 18 hours and 24 minutes to complete agents’ procedures, it said.
The revenue board has finalised the report conducted with the assistance of International Finance Corporation and Org-Quest Research Ltd and the report will be unveiled soon.
NBR officials said that the study was conducted to identify the causes of delays in export and import through the Benapole land port, bottlenecks in the international trade and to identify opportunities to improve trade facilitation as per a condition of tranche-2 of the Asian Development Bank-financed South Asia Social and Economic Cooperation loan programme.
They said that the time taken from the arrival of goods at port until its release was too high compared with that in the developed countries.
Though there is no standard time for release of cargos from customs houses and ports, in the developed countries it takes much less time than in Bangladesh.
BCFAA secretary Emdadul Haque told New Age that 80 per cent import cargos with products like perishable goods, primary agricultural products, industrial raw materials and capital machinery — which are subjected to follow simplified procedures — were released within the day.
The remaining cargos with products like imitation, sari, fabrics and unknown chemicals — which are subjected to pay high tax and required 100 per cent physical examination — take around 2-3 days for release, he said.
There is something wrong with the NBR study, he added.
-With New Age input
