Transit of oil: India to pay Tk 250 per tonne

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) will be required to pay various charges and give bonds to transit petroleum from Meghalaya to Tripura through Bangladesh, according to a notification from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) at the end of last week.

The transporters will have to pay a total of Tk 250 to move each tonne of fuel through Bangladesh as per the transit and transshipment rules issued in 2021. The charges are for security, escort and various administrative purposes.

Apart from this, each consignment will face a Tk 30 document processing fee while some Tk 254 will have to be paid as a scanning fee, the customs authority said.

For transiting the petroleum, oil transporters will need to give bonds equal to the amount of duty and taxes on the amount of oil, a measure the NBR keeps to prevent oil leakage in the country's territory.

"We keep this provision of bond to ensure that there would be no misuse of the privilege," said a senior official of the NBR on condition of anonymity.

The move comes nearly two weeks after Bangladesh's Roads and Highways Department signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IOCL, allowing the state-owned oil and gas explorer and producer of India to transport fuel to Tripura, a northeast state.

IOCL will be able to ply 80 vehicles daily for transporting fuel through Bangladesh -- including entrance and exit. IOCL will have to pay a charge of Tk 1.85 per tonne per kilometre travelled on Bangladesh's roads.

In its notification, the NBR said each consignment will have to leave Bangladesh within seven days and the temporary transit benefit will be on until November 30 this year.

In case additional time is needed for taking consignments to India, the customs authority may consider an extension, the NBR said.

The customs authority went on to say the transit benefit will be applicable only for IOCL petroleum, which will have to be transported at daytime.

The fuel must be moved in convoys of 10 vehicles each when passing through Bangladesh, it added.

Bangladesh agreed to give the transit facility to IOCL following the request of India as massive landslides in Assam damages the rail network of the neighbouring country.

As per the MoU, IOCL will move its convoys of fuel through Dawki (in Meghalaya)-Tamabil (in Sylhet) border via Sylhet bypass-Rajnagar-Shamshernagar to Chatlapur check-post in Moulvibazar to enter Kailashahar in Tripura.