Jamuna Fertiliser earns Tk 150cr in profit

New Age, 28 July 2012

Jamuna Fertilizer Factory run under the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation earned about Tk 150 crore in profit last fiscal, overcoming the loss of about Tk 130 crore during 2010-11 fiscal.
BCIC sources said the fertiliser factory produced 3,27,512 tonnes of urea worth Tk 589 crore in last ten months of the fiscal 2011-12. The production in the factory remained suspended for two months due to gas scarcity during the fiscal.
Out of the produce, 2,39,159 tonnes of fertiliser were sold and over Tk 430 crore earned.
Talking to the news agency, industries minister Dilip Barua said the government had taken a plan to modernise country’s urea fertiliser factories to meet the demand for the key agriculture input.
As part of the plan, he said, ‘Urea striper’ equipped with Japanese equipment has been introduced in Jamuna Fertilizer Factory at a cost of Tk 100 crore.’
The minister attributed the introduction of the urea striper in the fertiliser factory to the increased fertiliser production during the period.
Work on installation of gas turbine generator in the factory is going on in full swing, he said, adding that once completed it would provide uninterrupted power to the factory, he added.
The fertiliser factory, which has now 88,353 tonnes of fertiliser at stock, is producing 1,450 tonnes every day.

Govt cancels tenders for 5 coal-based power plants

The Financial Express, 28 July 2012

The government has cancelled the tenders submitted for all five coal-fired power plants, planned to generate up to 2,500 megawatts (MW) of electricity, at pre-qualification stage, which is seen as a major setback to generating low-cost electricity from base-load power plants, a top official said.

The state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) cancelled the tenders in its board meeting Thursday due to ‘non responsiveness’ of the bidders, he said.

The coal-fired power plant projects are Dhaka 600-800-MW plant, Dhaka 100-300-MW plant, Chittagong 600-800-MW plant, Chittagong 100-300-MW plant and Barisal 100-300 MW plant.

The bidders submitted bids at the end of the bid submission deadline on June 7. Earlier, the BPDB extended the deadline for these five coal-fired power plants several times, citing ‘bidders’ requests’ as the reason.

The BPDB floated tender for building these power plants on build, own and operate (BOO) basis on January 22, and the initial bid submission deadline was March 22.

The BPDB was supposed to purchase electricity from the successful bidders and supply to the national grid for nationwide consumption.

The power plants were set to be operated on BOO basis for 25 years. The selected project sponsors were set to arrange and own suitable sites for the projects in greater Dhaka, Chittagong and Barisal areas. They were also required to arrange necessary funds for the projects.

All these power plants were planned to be run by imported coal. However, local coal was also planned to be utilised once the country starts extracting coal significantly from mines, BPDB Chairman A S M Alamgir Kabir had said previously.

The country currently has five discovered coalmines, having the reserve of around 3.0 billion metric tonnes. But coal production is limited to only one coalmine, having the extraction capacity of around 1.0 million tonne per year.

The new coal-fired power plants were planned to be implemented as part of the government’s move to augment electricity generation and ensure future power supply at an affordable cost.

The government has already awarded around three dozens of high-cost oil-fired power plants under its short-term plan to enhance electricity generation.

As a result, the country’s average electricity generation cost has soared to Tk 6.50 per unit (1 kilowatt-hour), said a BPDB official.

On the other hand, despite repeated hikes in electricity tariff its average selling price still stands at Tk 4.02 per unit, he said.

The coal-fired power plants were planned to be built under the government’s mid-term planning to ramp up electricity generation at low cost.

The BPDB earlier awarded contracts and inked deals on June 27 to build three coal-fired power plants on BOO basis to generate a total of 1,087.34 MW of electricity.

A consortium of local Orion Group and Chinese Long King has been awarded all the three coal-fired power plant projects, to be commissioned by 2016.

Bangladesh’s overall electricity generation is now hovering around 6000 MW against the demand for over 7,500 MW. The government has a target to enhance electricity generation to 20,000 MW by 2021.

GMG set to resume operation by Dec

The Financial Express, 28 July 2012

The country’s oldest private carrier GMG Airlines Ltd. is set to resume its operation within the next six months, officials have said.

The GMG Airlines suspended all of its flight operations from March 30 this year citing its precarious financial situation and also for strategic restructuring against rising fuel price in the competitive global market.

“Earlier, we thought it would have been possible for us to resume in 3 or 4 months but now we will take six more months for recommence of flight operation,” Director (Customer care and Marketing) of GMG Airlines Asif Ahmed told the Financial Express Thursday.

He said in this connection we sent a letter to the Civil Aviation Authority updating GMG’s future plan, but this is not final decision and it may be changed.

During temporary shutdown of GMG, the flight operator said as part of the new strategy, GMG halted wide body operations, and will be replacing their Boeing 767s with new generation narrow-bodied aircraft with a renewed emphasis on on-time operation, reliability, and customer satisfaction.

It said, “The airlines is planning to adopt a new business strategy in light of rising fuel prices and changing international competitive environment through a 360 degree restructure of its strategy, organisation, fleet and business model.”

He said GMG will redesign its route network to focus on higher yield, higher growth in domestic and regional routes using new generation narrow body aircraft.

“We will prefer regional operation during the recommence,” he said.

Regarding airplane, he said the company is looking for Airbus A19 or 320 and Boeing 737 for restart.

He said GMG will refocus more on South, South-East, and Near-East Asia, with a few select narrow-body routes to the Middle-East rather than long route operation.

Prior to the closure, the carrier was only operating flights on Dhaka-Cox’s Bazar and Dhaka-Chittagong-Kolkata routes by two Bombardier Dash 8s.

GMG operated flights with three Boeing 767s, three MD-80s (McDonnell Douglas) and two Bombardier Dash-8s. But the airline grounded six aircraft in 2010 and 2011.

It also had six international routes including Bangkok, Jeddah, Dubai, Kuala Lumpur, Kolkata, and Riyadh, all of which were suspended in 2011 except Kolkata.

During the temporary closure, about 900 employees became jobless of its total 1000 workforce.

Some of them alleged to FE that they are not getting benefits from the airlines according to terms and conditions of service.

But Asif Ahmed said the employees are receiving their benefits according to law.

Also, the airline still has debt worth Tk 459.3 million to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and Tk 180 million in travel tax to the National Board of Revenue as of July 2011.

In April, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) suspended GMG from its billing and settlement plan as the carrier failed to pay dues to the internet-based system of the association.

Due to the suspension, all travel and ticketing agents and general sales agents removed the airlines’ ticketing authorities from their systems.

The IATA provides services for the settlement of financial transactions between travel agents and airlines.

In 2009, Beximco Group bought the lion’s share of GMG Airlines, which has been operating since 1998.

Money minted amid Eid shopping binge

Daily Sun, 28 July 2012

Detective police arrested six persons, including two females, along with forged notes worth about Tk 10 million from the city’s Mughda area on Thursday night.

The arrested money-makers were identified as Rojina Begum, 30, Morium, 22, Jalaluddin, 40, Abid Hossain, 42, Shahidul Islam, 30, and Mohammad Selim.

On a tip-off, a DB team first arrested Selim from a flat at South Mugda with a laptop, a printer, materials used for making counterfeit notes and seized fake notes amounting to Tk 10 million.

Later, on the basis of his statement, the team arrested five others from different parts of the capital.

“During preliminary interrogation, the arrested persons admitted to their involvement in marketing fake currency notes for long,” Additional Deputy Commissioner (West) of the DB police Moshiur Rahman told journalists.

The arrested also admitted that they were forging local currency notes targeting the forthcoming Eid festival.

The suspects along with the seized counterfeit notes were produced before the journalists at the DB office Friday.

Cuba broadens economic reforms, plans new measures

Reuters, 27 July 2012

HAVANA: Cuba adopted a new tax code this week and said it would loosen regulations on some state companies while turning others into cooperatives, as one of the world’s last Soviet-style economies moves in a more market-friendly direction.

The plans were announced at a session of the National Assembly, which passed the country’s first comprehensive tax code since the 1959 revolution on the communist-ruled island.

Foreign journalists were barred from Monday’s meeting, only portions of which were later broadcast by the official media.

President Raul Castro, 81, has liberalized regulations for small businesses and farming, and begun leasing small state retail outlets to employees since taking over for his ailing older brother Fidel in 2008. But he now appears ready, says Cuba expert Phil Peters, “”to put some meat on the bone.”

Marino Murillo, head of the Communist Party commission responsible for implementing reforms approved at a party Congress last year, characterized the tax law as providing the basis for ““bringing up to date the economic model,” while releasing few details of the code.

The new law takes effect next year and is scheduled for publication next month.

Castro’s point man for reform said it would gradually replace an old Soviet-style system and eventually require everyone to pay income and property taxes for the first time since the 1960s.

Murillo, in a two-hour presentation to the National Assembly, announced that an unspecified number of state companies would be partially deregulated by the end of the year.

He said the companies, previously part of various ministries, would be able to make day-to-day business decisions without waiting for government approval, manage their labor relations and set prices. After meeting state contracts, they will also be able to sell excess production on the open market.

The companies will be self-financed, including through bank credits, and expected to cover their losses, versus handing over all profit to the state and receiving financing and subsidies from the treasury.

Instead of being micro-managed by the ministries, Murillo said the companies would be evaluated by ““four or five indicators” such as earnings, the relation of productivity to salaries and their ability to meet the terms of state contracts.

Murillo also announced that 222 small to medium-sized state businesses were preparing to become cooperatives, ranging from restaurants and produce markets to shrimp breeding and transportation.

The cooperatives will lease state property and equipment at 10-year renewable intervals, operate on a market basis, pay taxes like other companies and divide profits among members as they see fit, Murillo said.

“”They have been rolling things out one by one on a slow but steady timetable and my guess is they will continue to do so. It’s a timeline that goes to 2015,” Peters, a vice president of the Virginia-based Lexington Institute, said.

“Now they are getting to the things that really have the ability to increase the size of the private sector and create the savings in the state sector that they say are their targets,” he said. —Reuters

Bumper jute production likely in Madaripur

Daily Sun, 28 July 2012

Madaripur: Farmers of the district are expecting bumper production of jute during the current season.

Officials of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DAE) said favourable climatic condition and luxuriant growth of jute plants have made the farmers hopeful of achieving bumper production.

A scheme has been taken up to bring the 21,809 hectares of land under jute cultivation in the district in the current season with an output target of 2,38,823 bales of jute.

The DAE officials said early rain and favourable climate have encouraged the farmers to bring more land under jute cultivation this year.

The officials said they have ensued supply of quality seeds among the farmers at reasonable prices to make the scheme a success. —UNB

Expanded parija paddy farming stressed for food security

Daily sun, 28 July 2012

RANGPUR: Speakers at a crop cutting ceremony yesterday stressed for expanded farming of off-season indigenous parija paddy as an additional crop for ensuring food security amid adverse climate.

They were addressing the ceremony of parija paddy cutting and a discussion organised by RDRS Bangladesh at the filed of farmer Esarul Haque in village Khoragach under Sadar upazila of Lalmonirhat yesterday.

With Programme Manager of Lalmonirhat Unit of RDRS Bangladesh Ziaul Islam in the chair, former union parishad member of local Pancha-gram union parishad Abdul Kuddus attended the cere-mony as the chief guest. —BSS

Potential sectors should be brought under quality financing

Daily Sun, 28 July 2012

RAJSHAHI: All the existing potential sectors and sub-sectors of agriculture should be brought under qualitative and quantitative investments for making the region’s agro-based economy more vibrant.

This was stressed in the 384th meeting of the Board of Directors of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) held at its board room here on Thursday with Board Chairman Prof Dr Shah Newaz Ali in the chair, RAKUB sources said.

The board meeting also noted that the bank’s administrative and operational activities must be transparent and accountable to be farmers-friendly for boosting agricultural production.

For the sake of sustainable livelihood of the farmers and for bolstering the agro- based economy, the meeting called for increasing the need-based credit flow.

The meeting discussed elaborately on how to make the bank’s operational and commercial activities more dynamic through strengthening the credit support for both farm and non-farm prospective fields.

Terming the farmers as the vital force to boost up the agricultural productions the board expressed its commitment to protect the farmers’ interests as a whole.

Managing Director (Acting) of the bank Abu Hanif Khan, Directors Khandaker Jahangir Kabir Rana, Abdul Mannan, Dr Rustam Ali Ahmed, Indu Bikash Mondal and Saifuddin Ahmed were present at the meeting.

General Manager (operation) Habibur Rahman, General Manager (Audit, Accounts and Recovery) Nishit Kumar Shaha, General Manager (Administration) Ekramul Haque, General Manager (Rajshahi division) Abdul Khaleque Khan and Council-Secretary AB Siddiqui were also present.

The meeting reviewed overall activities of the bank and took some important decisions relating to its operational and dministrative matters. —BSS

Higher funds received from overseas donors in FY’12

Daily sun, 28 July 2012

The disbursement of foreign assistance, including aid, loans and grants, in the last fiscal marked a significant growth, totalling the amount to $2.033 billion against the promise of $4.50 billion.

In the previous fiscal, the amount disbursed totaled $1.78 billion, though $5.97 billion was promised for the projects including Padma Bridge, the official figures showed.

The country received $2.23 billion from overseas donors and creditors in the FY 2009-2010 and $2.06 billion in the FY 2007-2008.

Even though the disbursement figure has increased, the total amount of grants dropped last fiscal compared to that in the previous fiscal.

In the last fiscal, the grants shrank to $573.85 million, almost half of the promised $1,281.02 million and lower than the $745.09 of previous fiscal.

More, the grants were disbursed higher than the commitment of $630.46 million in the previous fiscal.

In the FY’12, the disbursement figure included loans of $1.46 billion, higher than $1.03 billion of previous fiscal.

The net disbursement of loans, however, totaled $1.07 billion last year, following repayment of credits worth $966.46 million which included interests of $196.56 million.

In the previous fiscal, $929.40 million loans were repaid, which also included $200.20 million interests.

The analysts viewed that the overall disbursement situation was better last year, compared to that of previous fiscal when the World Bank didn’t release Padma Bridge loan.

However, the global lender released funds committed for other development projects in the year.

Of the foreign loans disbursed last fiscal, International Development Association (IDA) did $533.62 million, ADB $472.85 million, JICA $238.32 million, China $59.61 million, South Korea $52.79 million, Kuwait $36.96 million and IFAD $32.34 million.

Of the grants in the same year, IDA approved $112.38 million, DFID $97.88 million, UNDP $57.19 million, WFP $69.26 million, UNICEF $59.04 million, Germany $42.19 million and UNFPA $9.35 million.

In FY’11, IDA disbursed $421.44 million loans, ADB $434.77 million and JICA $107.63 million.

IDA made a grant of $89.63 million in the year when ADB approved $98.86 million

Industrial projects go full steam ahead

The Independent, 6 January 2012

Dhaka, Jan 6: The government has woken up, after three years of its tenure, to the bleak investment scenario and is taking steps to implement Tk 1600 crore worth of projects involving five specialised industrial zones and four BSCIC estates, by 2014. In 2011, the overall flow of investment (as percentage of GDP) came down to a standstill, compared to the first two years of the government, due mainly to shortage of industrial plots, liquidity crisis and inadequacy of gas and power, sources said.

The large specialised industrial projects including the Tk 550-crore Savar Leather Industry Park, Tk 235-crore Munshiganj Active Pharmaceuticals Industrial Park, Tk 200-crore Automobile Park at Amin Bazar, Tk 400-crore Sirajganj Specialized Industrial Zone and the Tk-150 crore Mirershari Special Economic Zone had long been facing manifold problems including legal tangle, availability of funds, land acquisition and complex bureaucracy. All the projects have got the Cabinet nod.

Industries minister Dilip Barua on Wednesday told The Independent that the government was set to launch all the mentioned industrial projects between 2013 and 2014. He hoped that the ongoing industrial projects would accommodate over 2,500 entrepreneurs with projected employment for five lakh people.

The government has projected a major investment boom that is slated to see the investment-to-GDP ratio rise by over six percentage points by 2014-15.

Barua said work order for the much-awaited Savar Leather Industry Park would be issued within the next couple of months after completing a legal process. He said land acquisition, earth filling, construction, training and loan disbursement for the project had already been completed.

The minister hoped that construction of the industrial park for manufacturing pharmaceutical ingredients at Munshigonj would be completed this year.

The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) Park project will reduce dependency on imported raw materials for this industry from next year.

The project faced a land acquisition problem and now the government has asked the implementing agency, Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC). to complete the construction work by this year itself. The proposed readymade garment (RMG) industrial park worth Tk 438 crore is set to be completed by 2013.

The minister said both the BEPZA and BSCIC had received applications seeking 350 industrial plots which the RMG Park could honour.

The BSCIC is putting up an automobile estate at Amin Bazar in the capital aiming to rehabilitate the automobile engineering workshops, which are scattered all over Dhaka, in a healthy and safe environment.

The industrial estate will have 187 plots of different sizes under the project and after establishment it will create employment opportunities for 20,000 people directly and for many more indirectly, the minister said.

Besides the BSCIC is constructing the largest ever industrial park in Sirajgonj worth Tk 400 crore to boost industrialisation and invigorate the rural economy. There will be 801 industrial plots and, of them, 570 will be reserved for private industrial entrepreneurs.

The project, covering 400 acres at Saidabad and Kalia Haripur in the district town, also received the go-ahead from the economic council, he added.

The Tk 384-crore project, which will have around 801 industrial plots, is expected to be completed by mid-2014. A total of 570 export-oriented, import-substitute and domestic mills and factories will be set up in the industrial park, officials said.

Another industrial plot is coming up at Mirsarai on 25 acres. According to the profile of the project which will be implemented by this year, the town will have 186 industrial plots where 125 small and medium units could be set up.

Once implemented, the project would create 6,000 direct jobs apart from several thousand indirect ones, the minister said.

Besides land acquisition for Gopalganj, Comilla, Kustia and Rangpur industrial estates under BSCIC is going on and is expected to be completed by 2013.