Al Amin:
The Customs Bond Commissionerate (CBC) Dhaka is going to be split into two quicker parts to offer better and services, officials of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) said.
The name of the two Commissionerates will be Customs Bond Commissionerate, Dhaka North and South. The Internal Resources Division (IRD) of the Finance Ministry may issue a gazette notification in this regard as almost all the paper works of the splitting of the commissionerate are now at final stage, the officials said.
They, however, have said issuance of the notification is likely to be delayed due to the ongoing countrywide lockdown situation, although the structure of the two commissionerates has already been finalized.
The Public Administration Ministry has already approved the division of the commissionerate and the approval has already been sent to Finance Division of the Finance Ministry for next steps, they said.
The approval will be sent to the Prime Minister Office for final approval and following the final approval of the PMO, the IRD division will issue the notification, they said.
They further said that the incumbent Commissioner of the CBC Kazi Mustafizur Rahman will remain as commissioner of the two commissionerates at the moment as his additional duty.
The CBC deals with fully export-oriented manufacturers, who are given bonded warehouse licences, to import duty-free raw materials on condition of exporting finished products.
Earlier, the board of the NBR has approved the plan in principle, based on the recommendations by a committee, in 2015 but it was hanged on due to bureaucratic complexities, the NBR officials said.
The split will increase work efficiency and provide the exporters with the option of getting the services at the nearest CBC office, a senior official of the NBR said.
The CBC Dhaka, established in 2000, has over 6,000 such manufacturers registered in the Dhaka administrative zone and over 4000 of the exporters are currently active, according to its website.
“I have heard that the approval has come to the IRD of the Finance Ministry from the Public Administration Ministry. But, I don’t know when the gazette will be issued in this regard,” The CBC’s Commissioner Kazi Mustafizur Rahman told The New Nation on Tuesday.
Most bonded warehouse licence holders operate through factories inside the capital and in areas like Savar, Narayanganj and Gazipur. Exporters also have to visit the CBC offices and the officials have to visit the sites for monitoring, the official said.
“Traffic causes exporters to lose a lot of time. Splitting of the CBC will be beneficial for the exporters if both offices are properly equipped to render one-stop services,” said Md Shahidullah Azim, Vice-President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA).
“Otherwise, we will have to go to the main office again to finish tasks,” said Azim.
