The government has taken the initiative to modernize the customs department of the country with the aim of building a smart Bangladesh under Vision 2041.
The customs sector will be modernized to boost the country’s import and export as well as to expand trade with the neighboring countries.
Recently, a project proposal for customs modernization has been sent to the Planning Commission from the Ministry of Finance, an official of Planning Commission said.
The project will be completed in July 2027 with the cost of Tk 1,862 crore.
Under the project, modern customs houses will be constructed at Dhaka, Chittagong and Benapole land ports, he mentioned.
A training academy will be set up in Chittagong to create skilled manpower, he added.
Economists said recently that a report, preparedby the World Bank, has highlighted many issues as obstacles to the growth of trade and commerce in South Asia, especially Bangladesh.
These include infrastructural problems in regional communication networks, poor transport systems, lack of capacity in customs houses and so on, they said, adding that regional communication and transport have seen great progress in the past few years, but the customs and customs system remains outdated.
Many places do not have modern standardized labs to test import and export products and even sophisticated scanners for cargo checking, they mentioned.
In that case, modernizing the customs along with making them suitable for the current world is the inevitable demand of the time.
Abdul Mannan Shikder, the project implementing agency in charge of customs of the National Board of Revenue, said, “We should go towards automation now to increase the revenue of the country. Modern infrastructure is needed for that.”
“Too many officers cannot be trained at a time. So modern academy should be created. We need central laboratory for various tests. These developments will increase our revenue. Moreover, all types of certificates can be taken at home without going to different offices. This will increase the benefits of the taxpayers,” he mentioned.
Regarding the rationale for taking up the project, the South Asian countries, especially Bhutan, Bangladesh was lagging far behind India and Nepal in terms of bilateral trade capacity.
The volume of trade between these countries has increased from $3 billion in 2005 to $18 billion in 2019.
However, although the volume of trade has gradually increased, the capacity is still far behind.
The project proposal states that if properly implemented, it will lead to development of cost-effective, sustainable and resilient commercial infrastructure at land-ships and airports.
It will be possible to reduce commercial costs by adopting modern tariff system as per international standards.
As a result, the capacity of human resources and revenue of the customs department will increase. Modern scanners and labs for product testing will be available.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is lagging behind neighboring countries. Therefore, the government is going to change the entire revenue system to increase revenue collection and become a middle-income country.
