Initially 1058 BDT for each ton of freight was recommended by core committee who was asked to set the price. But that was rejected by Commerce Ministry who set the price only BDT 277 for each ton of freight.
So just imagine 10 ton of freight can transit by paying only 2770 taka which not even is a air fare of a passenger to travel from Dhaka to Kolkata, let alone Assam to any cities of Bengal.
Plus no charge of import duty.
These are total breakdown of the charges:
The India-Bangladesh transit deal has challenges as well as scope of huge benefits to both stakeholders but which of the two is reaping more rewards?
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Fees and Charges
The transit fees for India are extraordinarily low in the riverways at the moment. Under the river protocol, Bangladesh charges only
BDT 277 for each ton of freight. This is very low compared to the initial recommendation of
BDT 1058 made by the core committee created by the commerce ministry.
Figure: Charges on Per Tonne Freight according to River Protocol/ Source: The Daily Star[2]
However, the recommendations of the core committee were rejected by the Commerce ministry and the charges were agreed at
BDT 277 per tonne of freight.
New Challenges
Indian cargo ships have been allowed to use the ports without fixing fees for now as the first shipment was supposed to be a test run to determine appropriate fees for the entire process. The first Indian Shipment carrying trans-shipment goods reached Chattogram port around July 21st. Although in this case it was only 4 containers, the amount will gradually increase in the future.[3]
Fixing New Fares
Although the use of ports have been finalized, fees are yet to be fixed. No custom duties will be applicable in transit as India and Bangladesh are signatory countries of
General Agreement on Trade and Tariff (GATT). The fares will mainly be applied by Bangladesh on account of its roads and ports being used.
Although there is no official statement about a rate yet, The Dhaka Tribune reports that officials have proposed a rate of
BDT 192 per Ton for port use and
BDT 34 for ship landing charge. In addition to these charges, the road transport and bridges ministry has proposed
BDT 2.10 per ton of goods for use of each kilometre of road inside Bangladesh.[4] These fees would determine how much benefit Bangladesh reaps from this deal as the only source of revenue from the project will be these charges.