Jashore Correspondent

The construction of the cargo vehicle terminal has been completed to reduce congestion at the Benapole land port in Jashore.

The port authorities said the terminal would be inaugurated in October.

As many as 1,200 to 1,500 cargo trucks can be parked at the terminal, which would reduce suffering and at the same time increase import and export activities, they said.

Sources related to the project said this cargo vehicle terminal has been constructed on about 24 acres of land at a cost of Tk329 crore.

Of the amount, Tk109 crore was allocated for land acquisition and Tk220 crore for the construction work.

As trade with India has increased manifold through the Benapole port due to easy road and rail connectivity, suffering in the transportation of goods also increased by leaps and bounds.

To overcome this crisis and enhance the capacity of the land port, the project titled Construction of Cargo Vehicle Terminal at Benapole was taken up.

Benapole Land Port Deputy Director Rashedul Sajib Nazir said the construction work of this project started in February 2022 after acquiring the land.

Under the project, a parking yard, cargo building, port service building, utility building, fire station, modern toilet complex, weighbridge scale, and other infrastructure have been constructed, he said.

The modern and attractive terminal can be turned on when the power is connected, he said, adding that its commissioning would reduce congestion and increase mobility at the port.

Four firms – TBEAL, NDEL RSSIJV-Era, ATTL, and ST Technology Limited – have worked on the project.

TBEAL built boundary walls and gates, NDEL RSSIJV-Era constructed toilets, a barrack building, an open yard, and operation building etc.

After that, ATTL completed the work of the scanner (by customs authorities) and ST Technology installed CCTV cameras.

India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry Director Motiar Rahman said the construction of the terminal has been done to ease traffic congestion.

“If this terminal is inaugurated, the congestion of goods will surely be reduced and the suffering will be reduced. Accordingly, our revenue will also go up,” he said.

Sources at the Benapole port said around 7,000-8,000 tonnes of goods are imported daily from India. As a result, many products are kept under the open sky due to space constraints.

Besides, Indian trucks wait at the port day after day with goods, while unloading is a problem due to the lack of space.

The port users think this problem will be solved if the terminal is opened.

According to port statistics, the Benapole port collected Tk2,425 crore in revenue in FY2011-12. In FY2022-23, it has increased to Tk5,786 crore.

At the same time, the volume of imports increased from 15 lakh tonnes to over 20 lakh tonnes last year.

Hasan Ali, project director and supervising engineer of the port, said, “The cargo vehicle terminal has been built maintaining the highest quality standards through BUET, KUET, and our own lab tests.”

He hoped that the electricity connection would be completed within the next week.

Mentioning that the terminal would be inaugurated in October, he said if the terminal opens, both the capacity and revenue income of the port will increase, facilitating trade between the two countries.