Radioactive portal at Ctg port by June
Chittagong port is likely to install radioactive portal at its four gates by June to check export and import of radioactive materials.
Ahead of launching the portal, a 24-member team of customs officials will receive training on radioactive portal operation at US Mega-port Initiative Headquarters in the US soon.
Sources said process for installation of the portal involving 13 million US dollar started at Chittagong port under the US Mega-ports Initiative around a year ago.
US Mega-ports Initiative is a project under which the US is installing such portals around 200 ports across the globe, they said.
The US would provide the radioactivity detection equipment for the portal and get those installed by their experts and technical teams, said the sources.
Three technical teams from US Mega-ports Initiative visited Chittagong port and have already selected sites to start installing the equipment at four gates in the port soon, said Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Secretary Syed Farhaduddin Ahmed.
“As the implementing authority, CPA is providing all the necessary support for installing the portal,” he said, adding, “Installation of the portal has became obligatory as well as indispensable since many countries are reluctant to import goods without radioactivity test.”
Sources in Chittagong customs house said as the preparation of installation was going on, the US Mega-ports Initiative made arrangement to train up officials to be entrusted with the operation of the radioactive portal at Chittagong port.
US Mega-ports Initiative recently requested the shipping ministry to send a team for training in a five-day course at its headquarters from March 29.
Since customs officials would be taking care of regulatory and legal aspects of the radioactive portal, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) selected 24 officials from both the import and export divisions of Chittagong Customs House.
The team includes four high officials -- commissioner (import), additional commissioner (export), Joint Commissioner (Import), and Deputy Commissioner (Export) -- and 20 preventive officers and appraisers.
Of the preventative officers and appraisers, 17 are from export and three from import division of Chittagong Customs House, said the sources.
However, sources said the US Mega-ports Initiative set a condition of selecting officials who would not be transferred elsewhere in 18 months after the training.
Before finalising the list it would be wise to check if any of the selected officials awaits promotion and consequent transfer, said a customs official preferring anonymity.
Joint Commissioner (Import) Md Moazzem Hossain said Mega-ports Initiative through an e-mail message on January 7 requested for providing its training centre in the US with the passport numbers and duly filled-in prescribed forms of the selected officials by February 1.
“Installation of the portal would be helpful for us as well since it would check both the export and import of any radioactive goods,” Moazzem said.
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