Staff Reporter :
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) is going to issue Diplomatic Bonded Warehouse license against three companies creating huge resentment among the entrepreneurs of the sector.
The three companies are the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka Hotel, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation and InterContinental Dhaka Hotel, they said.
The NBR officials said the revenue board is planning to issue the license against the companies with a view to expanding the diplomatic bonded activities in the country.
Apart from this, NBR is going to hold meeting with the owners of the company today (Wednesday) in presence with the revenue board Chairman Abu Hena Md Rahmatul Muneem.
But the sector insiders said the NBR is planning to issue the licence against the companies without any application, whereas many entrepreneurs have been waiting as their applications have been kept unsettled for many years.
“NBR Chairman has initiated to issue the licence against the three companies without any application. But around 50 companies have been waiting for approval since the last ten years,” Sohel Murad, Chairman of Sabir Traders Limited (STL), told The New Nation on Tuesday.
“Moreover, NBR is giving the licence at a time, when the duty-free import activities have been reduced to half in the country due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.
NBR officials, however, said they are going to hold the meeting with the three companies as an initial expansion activity of the diplomatic bonded warehouse.
NBR will hold meeting with other companies, if anyone has ability to ensure security, capability and sufficient facility to run the warehouse, they added.
Five out of six diplomatic warehouses are actively operational in the country and the NBR wants to expand the number of it gradually, the NBR officials said.
It is mentioned that no license has been issued during the last 45 years.
The existing six warehouses are National Warehouse, Dhaka Warehouse, Toss Bond (Pvt) ltd, H Kabir & co. Ltd, Eastern Diplomatic Service, Parjatan Corporation and Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
