<i>Work to set up new customs auction shed begins</i>
Construction of new shed will enhance capacity of Chittagong port to facilitate transit to the neighbouring countries
Development work of the customs auction shed site adjacent to the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) rest house is going on.Photo: STAR
Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has started work to construct a new customs auction shed outside the port restricted area as the existing one on three acres of land is hindering development of yard there. Construction of the new shed would help develop infrastructure in the port areas and enhance capacity of the port to facilitate transit to the neighbouring countries through it, said the sources at CPA. Dispute over selected land held back construction of a new auction shed outside the port for the last one and a half decades, they said. CPA Chairman Commodore RU Ahmed said process to develop the site for the auction shed started some three months ago and land filling of the site is also nearing an end. "At present a committee is being formed to set up the proposed shed as per requirement of the customs authority," said the CPA chairman while talking to The Daily Star on Tuesday. "After setting up of the new shed the existing one would be shifted over there and yard would be developed on the vacated land to increase capacity of the port," he added. According to sources, Chittagong customs and CPA officials at a meeting on January 11 in 1994 in presence of the then ministers for finance and shipping decided to set up a new auction shed. A committee comprising customs and port officials identified the site and submitted a modality for the auction shed project on August 28 in 1994. But, a very little progress could be made in this regard for around next six years due to dispute with the railway authorities over the land. Under a fresh move a meeting was held in presence of the secretaries for shipping and commerce and National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman on October 5 in 2000. The meeting decided to set up the new shed on the land just behind CPA rest house. The land was chosen since it could be connected with the port restricted area through a bonded corridor, said the sources. The meeting further decided that if customs authorities face problem (financial) in setting up the shed then CPA would set it up to rent out to customs authorities. Having the dispute over land unsolved another meeting was held with both the communication and the shipping secretaries in the chair on September 2 in 2004. The meeting formed a committee with Deputy Commissioner (DC), Chittagong as the convener to determine ownership of the land and settle the dispute between the CPA and railway authorities. Mentionable, after the then port-railway was split into two separate organisations as Railway and Port Trusts back in 1960, a total of 568.241 acres of land was demarcated for Port Trust (which is now CPA). But, 471.016 acres could be handed over to the port officially until the handing over process came to a halt in 1966 with 97.225 acres yet to be handed over to it. However, the port authorities had been paying taxes for this 97 acres of land since tax payment was made applicable for the state-owned organisations in 1977, said the sources. The dispute was settled when the committee headed by DC, Chittagong in its report submitted on November 9 in 2004 testified CPA as the owner of 97 acres of land. With Railway yet to withdraw its claim for ownership of the land, another 30 months elapsed before CPA magistrate erected pillars and signboard on June 18 in 2007 announcing the land as site for customs auction shed.
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