Bangladesh to keep Chittagong port, Benapole land port open 24X7

Bangladesh on Wednesday decided to keep its main sea port in Chittagong and the land port in Benapole open round-the-clock from August 1, and said it would inform India about the move.

The decision was taken during an inter-ministerial meeting in capital Dhaka.

"We have agreed on keeping the bank branches and customs offices at the ports open round-the-clock. The National Board of Revenue and the banks have already initiated the process," Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan told the media, reported bdnews24.

He said the Foreign Ministry will get in touch with Indian authorities to keep the Petrapole land port -- that connects to Benapole -- operational for 24 hours a day.

About 90 per cent of the Tk 200 billion annual cross-border trade between Bangladesh and India flows through the Benapole port and almost 1.3 million people travel through it a year.

The Chittagong seaport handles more than 90 per cent of exports and imports of the country.

In FY2017, the port handled almost 2.3 million containers, earning the state coffers over Tk 23.86 billion in revenues, the report said.

--IANS

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