Dhaka, March 13 -- The Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) has requested the Bangladesh Bank to extend the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) facility to 24/7 for it to facilitate port users' mandatory online payments of customs duties and charges.

It recently wrote to the central bank to take necessary steps in this regard.

A central banker concerned said, "We are working on it."

In its letter, CPA said Chattogram is the main seaport, which handles around 92 per cent of the country's total export-import trade.

It said the port functions round the clock but banks operate till 3:30pm every working day. That is why port users cannot complete all the necessary transactions within this period. As a result, they have to release their ships the ...