Al Amin :
Country’s custom houses, except Kamalapur Inland Container Depot (ICD), lagged far behind in achieving revenue collection target in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (2019-20).
ICD is at top while Chattogram is at bottom to reach the strategic targets of earning revenue during the period, officials said.
They said revenue collection has been decreased as export and import of all kind goods from China halted due to supply chain disruption caused by Wuhan coronavirus.
Sources said revenue collection at Kamalapur ICD was around Tk 70 crore higher than the strategic target and the custom house earned Tk 2,040 crore as revenue as against the target of Tk 1970 crore set for the July-February of the current fiscal year.
Meanwhile, the Chattogram Custom House has collected revenue Tk 29,044 crore, although strategic target was Tk 40,757 crore during the set period. The revenue collection deficit of the house is around Tk 11,713 crore.
Revenue collection at Benapole Custom House has also been reduced. The strategic target of the house was Tk 3,968 crore but the house collects Tk 2,173 crore in the first eight months, showing a deficit of Tk 1795 crore.
Meanwhile, strategic target of revenue collection at Dhaka Custom, one of the major custom houses in the country, was Tk 3,485 crore but it earned Tk2,861 crore revenue during the period under review and the deficit stood at Tk 624 crore.
On the other hand, strategic target of the revenue collection at Mongla Custom House was Tk 3,363 crore but it collected Tk 2,338 crore, leaving a deficit of Tk 1024 crore. Pangaon Custom House collected Tk 525 crore, although the target was Tk 930 crore in the eight months.
Commissioner of the ICD Customs House Md Anwar Hossain said, “The ICD’s revenue has increased this time due to the rise in the import of industrial raw materials and parts, especially motorcycles.”
He informed that the products of some important government institutions are released from this depot. Moreover, the release of various essential commodities has also increased here, he added.
For increasing the standard of ICD’s services, he said, businessmen are coming to use the Customs House. So, revenue collection is increasing, he added.
Khandaker Golam Moazzem, Research Director of Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said, “National Board of Revenue (NBR) is still lagging far behind in collecting revenues. There might have some progress due new leadership of the board. But, the board should pay attention on technical reforms.”
People expect a good growth in revenue collection from the new leadership of the board, he added.
NBR officials said export-import of Chinese has been reduced due to Corona virus which is impacted of revenue collection. Hopefully, the collection will be reached at satisfactory level at the end of the fiscal year, they added.
