Now all sorts of import and export related activities of the present Customs House, Chittagong are performing under two separate commissionerates. Both the customs houses will be functioning for an interim period at the present Customs House.

Inaugurating the customs houses, Badiur Rahman, chairman of National Board of Revenue (NBR), said the creation of two customs houses was necessary.

Division of the customs should have taken place much earlier, he said, adding that but it could not be done because of manpower dearth.

The NBR chairman underscored the need for increasing logistic supports for Chittagong customs houses through proper utilisation of own fund.

Badiur said Customs House (export) will be shifted to a separate building by December this year or January next year.

Addressing the inaugural function, NBR Member (Customs and VAT administration) A M Mashrur Ahmed said the newly opened separate customs houses will bring dynamism in the overall activities of Chittagong Port.

Documentations and taxation of both the commissionerates will be done with the existing software, Assycoda++, under the same server for the time being.

However, Customs House (export) was allocated office code 305 and Customs House (import) 301 to use the software.

Commissioner Md Farid Uddin will head both the customs houses for the time being.

The workforce of Customs House (export) includes deputy commissioner, four assistant commissioners, eleven principal appraisers, and 150 preventive officers.

Both the commissionerates will have separate installations and systems after Customs House (export) is shifted to the renovated Customs Laboratory Building.