Tk 50 Crore Balla Land Port Stands Idle as India Fails to Build Matching Infrastructure

🐄 Habiganj, Bangladesh — Built at a cost of nearly Tk 50 crore, Balla land port in the north-eastern district of Habiganj now stands largely unused, with parts of its infrastructure overrun by jungle and cattle grazing on the premises. The port was built to facilitate cross-border trade, but the investment has failed to deliver because the corresponding infrastructure was never developed on the Indian side.

📊 Project Timeline: Built 2023, Suspended 2025

📊 Construction of the land port in the Kedarakot area of Chunarughat upazila was completed in June 2023. But the facility was suspended in August 2025 as there was still no customs station or road connection on the Indian side in the Paharmura area of Tripura state.

🌏 Paharmura remains vacant, with no customs station, other infrastructure or road connecting it to the Bangladeshi side. That has left Bangladesh with a fully built port but no functioning cross-border link, raising questions about why such a large public investment was made before the necessary facilities on the other side were in place.

💰 Project Cost: Tk 49.90 Crore + Tk 7 Crore Land

📊 The project was taken up nearly a decade ago. Key milestones:

• 📅 2016: Bangladesh Land Port Authority declared Balla a land port
• 📅 FY 2016-17: Development project proposed with initial estimated cost of Tk 60 crore
• 📅 1 July 2017: Ecnec approved the project
• 💰 Revised cost: Tk 49.90 crore
• 💰 Additional Tk 7 crore for acquiring around 13 acres of land
• 📅 June 2023: Construction completed
• 📅 August 2025: Operations suspended

🏭 Bangladesh built yards, weighing scales, office buildings, dormitories, boundary walls, roads and other service structures needed to run a land port.

💬 Allegations of Political Influence

💬 According to locals, the project was taken up because of the “special interest” of a senior government official from Habiganj. The Bangladesh Land Port Authority chairman, however, rejected the claim, saying there was no official reference to support it.

💬 Officials now say there is little they can do except guard the facility. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official of the Bangladesh Land Port Authority said the manpower appointed for Balla Land Port continues to receive salaries even though there is no port operation.

💬 Tofazzal Sohel, coordinator of Habiganj Sankhubda Nagorik Andolan, a local civil society platform that campaigns against corruption, said those responsible for influencing, approving and implementing the project should be held accountable for wasting public money.

🚢 Existing Balla Customs Station: 3km Away

📊 Balla already had a customs station, about three kilometres from the newly built land port. The station has existed since the British period, and some irregular imports and exports take place through the Balla-Khowai river route. The route is also used by Bangladeshi and Indian passport holders travelling between the two countries.

⚠ But the Khowai River has long made trade difficult:

• 🌬 Rainy season: traders transport goods by boat
• ☀ Dry season: workers carry goods on their heads across the river

🤝 Bangladesh-India Joint Visits Since 2012

📊 Against this backdrop, Bangladesh and India began discussions about developing the Kedarakot area:

• 📅 11 June 2012: Joint delegation from commerce ministries of both countries visited Kedarakot
• 📅 Multiple occasions: Foreign ministry officials from both countries visited the area
• 📅 2016: Bangladesh formally declared Balla a land port

💬 Local Reactions: Wasted Money, Lost Trade Opportunity

💬 Mir Siraj, a lawyer and general secretary of Chunarughat upazila BNP, said the Awami League government had wasted crores of taka in a project to showcase development rather than meet genuine needs. “This port was built without any agreement with the Indian government,” he said.

💬 Local businesses say the port could have opened a new route for trade with Tripura and other north-eastern Indian states. Sajidur Rahman, member secretary of the Chunarughat Businessmen Welfare Association, said that had the port been operational, Bangladeshi products could have been exported to eastern Indian states, including Tripura, more easily.

📊 He said the land port could play a significant role in exporting:

• 🌾 Agricultural products
• 🐟 Fish
• 🏭 Ceramics
• 🚽 Sanitary ware
• 🍚 Processed food
• 🧭 Construction materials

📊 At the same time, the land port could facilitate imports of:

• 🛅 Onions from India
• 🌿 Ginger
• 🧄 Garlic
• 🍌 Various fruits from India

💬 Mohammad Ali, chairman of Gazipur Union Parishad, said the port could transform the local economy if it became operational.

👥 Current Staffing: 5 Security + 2 Cleaners

📊 Five security personnel and two cleaners are currently stationed at the land port, mainly to guard and maintain the premises, according to Sabuj Chandra Roy, superintendent of the port. Sabuj said it is difficult to say exactly when the port would become operational.

🌏 Strategic Context: Bangladesh-India Land Port Strategy

📊 For Bangladesh’s land port strategy, the Balla case raises several uncomfortable questions:

• 💰 Project approval without bilateral agreement — investment made before India confirmed matching infrastructure
• 🏛 Political influence in project selection — allegations of “special interest” from senior officials
• 💰 Wasted public money — Tk 50 crore investment with no operational return
• 👥 Continuing salary costs — staff being paid for non-operational port
• 🚢 Trade opportunity loss — potential exports to Tripura and Northeast India blocked
• 📋 Existing infrastructure duplication — new port built 3km from existing customs station

📋 Lessons for Future Land Port Projects

🤝 For Bangladesh’s policymakers, the Balla episode offers important lessons:

• 🤝 Bilateral agreement prerequisite — no land port construction without confirmed Indian counterpart infrastructure
• 💰 Independent project appraisal — reduce political influence in project selection
• 📊 Feasibility assessment — realistic cost-benefit analysis before Ecnec approval
• 🌏 Existing infrastructure review — assess duplication with nearby ports/stations
• 💲 Accountability mechanism — consequences for wasted public investment
• 📋 Operational trigger condition — construction only after counterpart confirms readiness

✅ For Bangladesh’s broader trade infrastructure strategy, the Balla land port represents a cautionary tale of how infrastructure investments can go wrong when bilateral coordination fails. As the government plans new land ports and trade corridors, the Balla experience should serve as a reminder that physical infrastructure is meaningless without corresponding operational readiness on both sides of the border.

🌏 For the local community in Chunarughat and the broader Habiganj district, the idle Balla land port is a daily reminder of missed economic opportunity — of trade that could have flowed, jobs that could have been created, and businesses that could have thrived. Until India builds the matching infrastructure at Paharmura, or until Bangladesh finds an alternative use for the Tk 50 crore facility, the cattle will continue to graze where traders should have been loading trucks with export goods destined for Tripura and beyond.