Sources in the central bank said in the wake of a little improvement in the congestion situation at the country's premier port despite some measures taken by the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) as traders still keep their imported products on the port premises for a period beyond permissible, the tax administration in a recent letter to the BB's foreign exchange division made such a request.

No bill of entry for around 4000 imported consignments at the port has been opened since July 2006, according to the Chittagong Customs sources.

"We think half of the consignments have long been kept at the port, turning the congestion situation worse," Farid Uddin Ahmed, commissioner, Chittagong Customs, told The Daily Star on Friday, suggesting the banks pay foreign exchange to the recipients after clearing the products from the port for a better situation.

"If the banks do not check the products at the port points, how they can make it sure that the products imported through their LCs have landed according to their contracts," Farid Uddin added.

Meanwhile, the Chittagong Customs authority has floated three auctions to clear a huge amount of products piled for long at the port.

It also enhanced the rate of port usage for the importers in order to discourage such a piling of imported products.

The authority also issued letters to the importers asking them for getting their imported items cleared in a span of 30 days.

"We are currently issuing 150 to 200 letters to the importers everyday whose products have been are lying piled at the port for over 30 days," Farid Uddin informed.

He said as per the Customs Act 1969, the importers should get their products cleared from the port within 30 days of landing of those.

In case of any failure on the importers' part to get the items cleared after 45 days of their imports, the customs authority is entitled to putting those items on auction following issuance of reminders for the importers concerned, said the customs sources.