Revenue earnings from the country’s land ports continued to maintain a steady rise in fiscal year 2017-18 (FY18) as these ports earned Tk 148.33 crore, up Tk 36.86 crore 33 percent from Tk 100 crore of fiscal year 2016-17, BSS reported.
The land ports earned revenue worth Tk 83 crore in fiscal year 2015-16.
“Revenue earnings from the land ports have been maintaining an increasing trend because of the development of infrastructure. Exporters and importers are getting timely services from the ports,” said chairman of Bangladesh Land Port Authority (BLPA) Tapan Kumar Chakrabharty.
Three land ports — Benapole, Burimari and Bhomra — earned 84 percent of the total revenue of Tk 148.33 crore. Like previous fiscal years, Benapole mobilized Tk 48.72 crore, Burimari Tk 46.24 while Bhomra Tk 21 crore.
Talking to BSS, Chakrabharty said development of infrastructure of two more land ports and expansion of Benapole and Bhomra ports are progressing fast. Export-import will go up through the land ports when the development programmes will be completed, he added.
Sonamosjid land port collected Tk 3.82 crore in revenue, Tamabil Tk 6.46 crore, Hili Tk 6.07 crore, Teknaf Tk 4.74, Banglabandha Tk 47, Akhaura Tk 5 lakh, Nakugaon Tk 11 lakh and Bibirbazar Tk 1.0 lakh in FY18.
In the current fiscal year, the government has targeted to collect Tk 165 crore from the land ports.
There are a total of 23 land ports in the country at present and out of these ports, 12 ports deal with exports-imports while BLPA operates the 11 ports as customs station.