Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain ruled out applying the option immediately as the minimum travelling cost Tk 406,800 and maximum Tk 436,000 would be required to bring back a single Bangladeshi national from Libya, Egypt and Tunisia through ship.
The government will use ship as the last option because of high cost and time-consuming, he told the daily sun on Sunday, adding that the travel cost through ships is more than double of airfare.
Mosharraf pointed out that the Bangladeshis were returning every day with the help of recruiting agencies and the international organisation for migration (IOM). Many others are, however, facing problems because of shortages of food, water and shelter in bordering towns of Egypt and Tunisia. Five Bangladeshis died in the last two days in connection with Libyan unrest.
Out of 60,000 Bangladeshis who used to work in the oil-rich Libya only 25,000 sought safer places in those towns since the trouble broke out. The government has only been urging the manpower recruiting agencies and the IOM to help evacuate them.
According to a foreign ministry calculation made on Sunday afternoon, a total of 3,994 Bangladeshi nationals returned home. Of them, 1,432 came with the help of I0M. Employers sent some expatriates home while the rest came on their own arrangements. Foreign minister Dipu Moni last week ruled out large scale evacuation.
Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC), the state-owned operator, made the estimate on travelling costs after obtaining quotations from three international shipping lines. It was asked by the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister to seek the quotations after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina directed the authority concerned to ready ships for evacuation.
The BSC received first offer from an international shipping operator. The shipping company says 10 lots, each consisting of 1,000 passengers, will be boarded the ship on way to an island in Greece. From there, Bangladeshi expatriates will be sent to Dhaka by aircrafts with 500 passengers boarding in a flight. Per head travel cost has been estimated at Tk 406,800. The shipping company has conditions, including additional compensation charge of Tk 7,119,000 in case of higher time of more than 12 hours for boarding passengers in port and minimum number of passengers would be 10,000.
Second offer was given by MV Ionian King having passenger capacity of 1,400. The operators of the vessel will pick the stranded Bangladeshis from Libya, Egypt and Tunisia and will carry them to Chittagong port. Travel expense for each passenger will be Tk 436,000. The operator will charge compensation at a rate of Tk 7,119,000 for delay of more than 24 hours in the ports.
MV Moby Corse which made the third offer has demanded Tk 40,680,000 for per day. Having passenger carrying capacity of 1,240 the ship would ferry Bangladeshi expatriates from Libyan capital Tripoli to Genova, a port city in northern Italy. The shipping operator will not take responsibility for arranging flights leaving it to on Bangladesh authority. Besides, compensation charge of Tk 7,119,000 would be taken in case of delay after 24 hours in a port.
News Source: The Daily Sun