The government yesterday handed over the operations of four out of 13 land ports to private sector under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis for a period of 25 years to facilitate efficient and smooth handling of goods.

The ports awarded through open tender are Sona Masjid in Chapainawabganj, Hili in Dinajpur, Banglabandha in Panchagarh and Bibir Bazar in Comilla.

The government also has a plan to hand over the operations of other land ports to private sector in phases.

However, the private operators will have to wait for nearly three months to start infrastructure development works as the agreement on land transfer in the port areas is to be done.

"The land transfer agreement will be signed within three months," Amjad Hossain Sarker, chairman of

Bangladesh Land Port Authority (BLPA), told reporters following the signing of the contracts with the companies concerned.

BLPA chairman and the chiefs of the bid-winning companies signed the agreement papers for transferring authorisation of handling the ports at the BLPA office.

Alaudin Ahmed, chairman of ERBA Ltd, Abul Kalam Azad, managing director of Shepherd Textile (BD) Ltd, and Muniruzzaman Chowdhury, managing director of Panama Trading Ltd, signed the agreements on behalf of the respective companies.

Ruling party lawmaker Shahjahan Ali Mia and the BLPA senior officials were also present at the function.

Under the agreement, the Panama Trading Ltd has been tasked with operating Sona Masjid and Hili ports. The company will share 49 percent of its annual revenue with the government as variable royalty.

The Shepherd Textile (BD) Ltd and the ERBA Ltd will operate Bibir Baza and Banglabandha ports respectively. The ERBA Ltd will share 31.26 percent variable royalty and Shepherd 15.01 percent with the government, according to the agreement.

The companies will also pay a fixed amount of royalty to the government annually for using land and other facilities for the next 25 years. The ports will be taken over by the government by the end the period.

Under the agreement, the private operators will have to make advance payments on the basis of potential amount of revenue collection. The amount of advance payment for operating Sona Masjid is Tk 50.7 million, Hili Tk 28.5 million, Banglabandha Tk 5.8 million and Bibir Bazar Tk 5.8 million.

Muniruzzaman Chowdhury, MD of Panama Trading, alleged that the BLPA is taking the advance payments, although there is no such provision in

port transfer policy of the government.

Earlier, the BLPA decided to transfer the land ports in three phases to the private operators.

Birol land port was supposed to be handed over in the first phase. However, the BLPA chairman said the Birol land port will be transferred shortly following the establishment of a railway station in the port areas for facilitating handling goods.

He said Teknaf in Cox's Bazar, Akahura in Brahmanbaria, Tamabil in Sylhet and Burimari in Lalmonirhat will be transferred in the second phase, next year.

Darshana in Chuadanga, Haluaghat in Mymensingh and Bhomra in Satkhira will be handed over in the third phase under the scheme.

Amjad Hossain expected that the overall revenue collection and the efficiency of the ports will be increased following this transfer.