Internet infrastructure starts taking shape

The Independent, 7 January

DHAKA, JAN 7: The Awami League-led Grand Alliance government has started taking steps to establish an internet infrastructure across the country, to fulfil its electoral pledge of creating a “digital nation”.

For an even expansion of such internet facility, the government has, in the past one week, reduced internet prices in districts by 50 per cent. It also asked six companies to lay out International Terrestrial Cable (ITC) to ensure uninterrupted internet service and re-chalked the roll-out target for a nationwide telecommunication transmission network (NTTN).

From the beginning of 2012, the state-owned Bangladesh Telecommunication Company Ltd (BTCL) is offering broadband connection with speed of up to 256 KB at Tk. 300 in districts. Previously, the price of the same amount of bandwidth was Tk. 600.

The BTCL divisional engineer (internet), Sunil Kumar Adhikari, told The Independent that the BTCL has been providing this package under its leased internet service. “We offer three types of internet connections, namely leased, broadband and dial-up services,” he said.

Adhikari also said that under the leased service, the BTCL uses gigabit Ethernet to connect to the NTTN network. “Under this arrangement, we use the NTTN to provide our services”, he added.

He said the BTCL has also taken other steps to ensure internet service to all. “We’ve already established landphone internet facilities under our dial-up service in 50 districts. Soon, all districts will be brought under this facility,” he affirmed.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on January 6 handed over licences to six private companies to build and operate the ITC for backing up the country’s lone undersea cable to ensure uninterrupted internet services throughout the country.

According to licence conditions, the terrestrial cables will start offering services within the next six months. In September last year, the government had selected six companies to distribute the licences. Each of the companies deposited Tk. 2 crore as licence fee and Tk 1 crore as bank guarantee.

The licensees are Novocom Ltd, Asis-AHL JV, BD Link Communication Ltd, Mango Teleservices Ltd, Summit Communications Ltd and Fibre@home Ltd.

The companies will be able to connect with all neighbouring countries through terrestrial fibre-optic cables. The six cables will pass through Meherpur, Benapole, Sylhet and Comilla borders.

Talking to The Independent, Maj Gen Jia Ahmed, chairman of the BTRC, said the government is planning to get connected with the second submarine cable, SEA-ME-WE-5, very soon. “Expansion of the internet is the present government’s top priority and we are working on it”, he remarked.

He also said that the government is trying to make internet affordable for all. He said the regulator has given 14 large internet service providers (ISP) the licence to provide fixed wi-max service. “These ISPs are allowed to expand their business under this fixed wi-max service, so that they can lucratively switch to the nationwide telecommunication transmission network (NTTN) instead of using overhead cable,” he added.

The telecom regulator, however, recently amended its licensing guideline for the NTTN and included a new provision, so that each operator, as per the amended guideline, has an obligation to deploy its network in all divisional headquarters within the first year of its licence.

Under the amended guideline, all district headquarters of the designated zones and all upazila headquarters of the designated zones will have to be laid out by the NTTN licensees within three and five years, respectively.

Experts, however, are sceptical about the government’s initiatives to expand the internet infrastructure. Dr Sattyaprshad Majumder, professor of telecommunication engineering in BUET, said that two-thirds of the country’s current bandwidth are being wasted because of the government’s open market approach towards distribution.

“Rather than having a policy to prioritise the potential sectors for bandwidth distribution, the government is now providing bandwidth on a random basis”, he pointed out.

He said that setting up of such an internet infrastructure is not enough to increase the number of subscribers. The government needs to form a policy to provide a level playing field for the licensed ITC operators, he added.

“The government should also reduce the 15 per cent VAT on internet usage”, he observed.

Part of 4-lane highway to be ready by June

The Daily Star, 27 March 2012

The communications ministry is pushing hard to speed up the upgrade of Dhaka-Chittagong highway and complete at least part of the work by June.

The upgrade of 192-kilometre two-lane highway from Daudkandi to Chittagong into a four-lane one has remained stalled for about two years due to inept consultancy, frequent change of project director and intervention in land-filling work by some ruling party men, according to ministry sources.

Taking the helm at the ministry in December last year, Obaidul Quader has had meetings with the concessionaires and also has been paying regular visits to the project sites to monitor the progress of work.

In a recent meeting with them, the minister has set a June 30 deadline to complete the upgrade of 25-km part between Comilla and Feni districts.

Ministry officials are hopeful another 57-km of the widened highway would be ready by December.

“The minister is under pressure to perform. He is desperate to have at least a part of the upgraded highway opened by the prime minister at the earliest,” noted a senior official at the communications ministry.

Roads and Highways Department sources said expansion of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, known as the country’s economic lifeline, was essential as the road cannot accommodate around 30,000 vehicles a day.

Besides, a five-hour long Dhaka-Chittagong trip now takes around double the time.

A Tk 2,382 crore project was initiated in 2006 to upgrade the highway in three years, but successive governments had failed to finalise the scheme.

The present government in January 2010 had entered deals with Chinese Sinohydro Engineering, and Bangladeshi Reza Constructions Ltd and Taher Brothers Ltd to widen the road.

Though the project finally started early last year, it never gained any momentum as the concessionaires faced problems in removing illegal structures along the highway and collecting earth for land-filling, claimed contractors.

Ministry officials said 64 per cent of the land-filling work has been completed so far while the rest would be done by May.

The construction of 145 culverts out of a total 220 has been completed and 17 small bridges are being built.

The ministry recently has inked a deal to build three overpasses at as many level crossings on the highway. Tenders have been floated for the construction of five large bridges.

“Now we don’t have any crisis and the upgrading work has been going on in full swing,” Project Director Ibne Alam Hasan told The Daily Star.

He hoped the project will be complete by next year if the current pace of progress continues.

‘Bangladesh may get $14b as remittance, this year’

The Independent, 27 March 2012

DHAKA, MAR 25: The government is contemplating to reform three-decade old Emigration Ordinance to insert more rights to the migrant workers. And, to facilitate international employment, the government is also setting up a migrants’ bank, according to Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, MP. The minister also emphasised policy support to migrant workers while speaking at a business luncheon meeting of Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI), as the chief guest at a local hotel on Sunday.

In efforts to reduce migration costs, facilitate migration loan and encourage (remittance) investments, a migrants’ bank will be set up, pointed out the minister.

“Manpower is our asset. We have received over US$ 12 billion remittance in 2011,” Mosharraf said.

Although foreign workers from Bangladesh make up just 2.8 per cent of Bangladesh’s population, they contribute to more than 13 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Remittance was second-biggest source of foreign income after ready-made garments in 2010-2011, the minister added.

According to the World Bank, Bangladesh is one of the top 10 remittance recipient countries globally.

Cost to migrate from Bangladesh is still very high comparing to other countries and step should be taken to bring it lower, minister said, and added that initiative is needed for a minimum five years of job agreement for migrant workers with host countries.

To encourage migrant workers to remit money through banks, he suggested that Bangladesh Bank allows migrants to send home up to $ 500 at free of charge.

He said majority of migrants from Bangladesh, approximately 63 per cent of them, are less skilled and semi skilled. The Middle East is the largest destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers, approximately some 80 per cent. However, Southeast Asia is also emerging as an important destination. Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) has already approved Tk 1,000 crore funds for setting up another 36 institutions for skill development of migrants, he added.

The government has taken some measures to attract host countries so that they employ more Bangladeshi immigrants. To explore new markets for Bangladeshi workers, high level visits have been undertaken to Romania, Iraq, Mali and Libya to mention a few. The government is also opening Bangladesh missions in some of these prospective countries.

Similar efforts are also underway with other East European and Central Asian countries. And, conventional markets in Africa and North America are also being pursued.

Furthermore, the Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry has also started exploring and diversifying into new sectors, such as care giving, nursing and other medical professions, as well as actively promoting women labour migration.

The minister thanked Bangladesh-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry for organising this important meeting.

While welcoming the guests, Syed Nurul Islam, president of BMCCI highlighted the role of immigrants in the country’s economic development.

He said over 8 million Bangladeshi people are working in different countries and among them huge numbers are living outside as regular immigrants. If everything goes well, Bangladesh will get over $14 billion in this year, he hoped. This will be an enormous achievement for Bangladesh, he observed.

The programme was also addressed by the special guests–Dr. Zafar Ahmed Khan, secretary of Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas and Employment, and C M Koyes Sami, managing director, Probashi Kallyan Bank.

Online stores get more hits

The Daily Star, 27 March 2012

Online shopping is becoming popular in Bangladesh, encouraging new entrants to open e-portals for consumer goods and household essentials.

In the past one year, nearly a dozen online shopping portals or e-trading platforms launched operations, offering products and services from vegetables, clothes, computer accessories to books and travel tickets, said IT sector insiders.

The trend started after Bangladesh Bank cleared ways for payment by debit and credit card in the local currency.

“The extent of visits and deals made through these online portals is rising,” said AKM Fahim Mashroor, chief executive of bdjobs.com, a leading online job portal.

Bdjobs.com opened an online trading platform, ajkerdeal.com, six months ago to promote client merchants’ products and services to consumers at discounted prices.

Of the portals that came into operation last year, at least 10 received good responses. Some 5,000-10,000 visitors visit these online platforms on a regular basis, said Mashroor, also the senior vice present of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS).

Thanks to growing internet penetration, shopping portals have received impetus, widening scope for a buyer to purchase goods sitting at home.

An increased use of internet-enabled mobile phones also added vigour to online shopping. Some online stores have already kept provisions to place orders by mobile phone.

Now 50 lakh people use the internet daily and 25 lakh people have a Facebook account in Bangladesh, he said.

Bangladesh’s headway in online retailing coincides at a time when online portals account for a major share of daily retail trade in the developed world.

In China and India, these sites are becoming popular because of the convenience, according to IT sector insiders.

It gives customers scope to buy products at prices lower than the rates quoted in showrooms, Mashroor said. An entrepreneur can offer products at low prices because online platforms save on operational costs like showroom rent.

“So, it is a good platform for small and medium enterprises to market their products,” said Mashroor.

“Our aim is to build a platform to reduce the number of hands in the supply chain by selling producers’ goods directly to consumers,” said Ataur Rahman, director of Future Solution Business (FSB).

The company launched an online portal — amardesheshop.com — to sell vegetables, fish and handicrafts to people in urban areas earlier this year. Amardesheshop.com is a component of the Amar Desh Amar Gram e-commerce initiative of FSB, which took the step to establish an ICT based network to connect rural producers with consumers in the city and vice versa.

“The prices of vegetables and other products that we offer usually are lower than market prices,” said Rahman, adding that the firm receives orders online and over the phone and they deliver goods home on a weekly basis.

“When we started, we had 20 clients. Now we supply to 50 families in Dhaka,” he said. “Many producers are linked with us through our IT centres at production areas.”

Shameem Ahsan, chief executive of another e-commerce firm akhoni.com, said the company is registering fast growth due to rising demand.

“We offer products that are highly discounted,” he said, adding that already 10,000 people have bought products through akhoni.com since its launch in June last year.

Ahsan said the portal has the option to pay online by card or in cash for home delivery. It also provides discount coupons if clients visit the stores physically.

Some 150 merchants are linked with akhoni.com that promotes clothes, electronic gadgets, mobile phones, travel packages and restaurants.

“We receive many orders from different parts of the country,” he said.

However, some bottlenecks hinder the fast growth of e-commerce. Many banks, fearing fraud, still keep debit and credit cards inactive for online transactions for security reasons.

Mashroor said the central bank should prepare guidelines for banks and other service providers to prevent fraud in online transactions. For companies, there should be scope for insurance against frauds, he said.

At the same, the number of debit or credit card users is also lower than the current internet users, said Mashroor.

Jute exports thrive on new markets

The Daily Star, 27 March 2012

A recently-created demand for jute sacks in Thailand has come as a boon for the jute industry in Bangladesh, raising hopes for a recovery in exports that fell 13 percent during July-February of the current fiscal year.

Also, India has recently increased import of jute and jute goods after its currency started to gain against the US dollar.

Prices have also increased.

“Exports of jute goods to our traditional middle-eastern and African markets have fallen amid political unrest in Libya, Syria, Iraq and other countries,” said Md Shamsul Haque, director (marketing) of state-owned Bangladesh Jute Mills Corporation that has 21 jute mills running.

“But our exports increased in the last three months as we got some new markets,” said Haque, “Thailand has emerged as a new market for our jute sacks along with Vietnam.”

The market in Thailand has widened after the current Thai-government started buying a huge quantity of rice in jute sacks to fulfil its pledge of providing a guaranteed price to farmers.

“We have received orders for supplying two crore (20 million) pieces of jute sacks from millers in Thailand,” he said.

“Thailand has opened up a new opportunity for us. It has come as a blessing as our stocks were piling up due to a fall in exports. Now all our mills are booked for the next four months,” said the BJMC official.

Private jute mills will also be benefited due to the decision of Thailand, which is the largest exporter of rice and forecasts to produce 30 million tonnes of rice in 2011-12.

“Demand for jute sacks is high in Thailand,” said Mahmudul Huq, deputy managing director of Janata Jute Mills Ltd, a leading jute yarn and jute goods exporter.

He said, as his mill alone could not meet the orders, he tied up with two other mills.

Janata ships 3.2 lakh pieces of jute sacks a month to Thailand, he said.

Huq said Thailand needs three million pieces of bags a month to package rice. It means around 36 million pieces of sacks will be required a year, he added.

“Because of Thailand, the demand for jute sacks will continue across the year. India is our main market, but its demand remains only for eight months,” said Huq.

Apart from Thailand, exporters faced an increased demand for raw jute and jute goods from India.

The Indian rupee has gained against the greenback in recent months, and so the Indian importers started to buy more jute and jute goods, said Haque of BJMC.

Mahfuzul Haque, chairman of Bangladesh Jute Association, a body of raw jute traders and exporters, also said the demand for jute goods has improved abroad.

“Prices have also gone up,” he said, “It’s mainly because of increased demand from India.”

Exporters said the increased demand and higher prices of jute goods will allow them to narrow down the losses in export receipts in the first half of the year.

But it may not be possible to offset the past fall and post a positive growth in exports by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, according to Janata Jute Mill official Huq.

Export receipts from the jute industry — the second biggest export earner — fell 13.66 percent to $615 million in the July-February period of the current fiscal year, from $712 million during the same period last year, according to Export Promotion Bureau.

Dressed to impress

The Daily star, 27 March 2012

When I tell people in Hong Kong, London or New York that Bangladesh is a land of untapped business opportunities, there are usually some who’ll raise their eyebrows in incredulity or admiration. For those who haven’t visited in person, it’s a country they only know from media headlines as a place of natural calamities and social pressures as the population expands.

Fortunately, I’m finding that the sceptics and uninformed are increasingly in the minority. As the global business community focuses its attention on Asia, there’s mounting interest in Bangladesh for its skilled workforce, its thriving economy and the impressive export industry it’s built in just over 40 years.

While acknowledging that Bangladesh still has much to do to realise the government’s long-term vision, I believe the prospects here are quite bright. So does HSBC Commercial Banking, which handles over 8 percent of the country’s international trade, and which recently showed Bangladesh to be the Asia-Pacific’s second fastest-growing trade partner after Vietnam. In fact, our research indicates that Bangladesh’s regional commerce will increase by more than 9 percent annually through to 2016.

Our confidence stems from what we see on the ground, in the cities and in the export processing zones, and from our expectations that Asia will increasingly sit at the heart of the global economy. Bangladesh now ranks higher than India, Indonesia and the Philippines in the World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report, and it has nurtured companies producing goods for household brands including Levis, Nike, Raleigh and Sony.

Some have suggested that Bangladesh could become like Mexico, which has established itself as a low-cost manufacturing hub for its enormous neighbour to the north. In some ways the analogy is insufficient in that Bangladesh borders India and is also close to China – two economies HSBC thinks will become the world’s third-largest and largest respectively by 2050. In other ways, the analogy exaggerates because by 2050, even after a seven-fold increase, we expect China’s income per capita will only be 32 percent of that in the US.

What we know today is that Bangladesh is a competitive place to do business when benchmarked against its emerging market peers. It has clear cost advantages, and a committed young workforce that’s keen to learn. With an increasing number of international companies relying on Bangladesh for the timely delivery of quality garments, the country has a medium-term opportunity to win manufacturing investment in this vital export sector. With economic austerity in the West making consumers there more cost-conscious, companies here have an opportunity to promote sales of affordable clothing while investing to rise up the value chain.

The challenge, of course, is that Bangladeshis want to increase their earning power. They want economic diversification that will bring new job opportunities while reducing the nation’s reliance on apparel and expatriate remittances. This will require effort to build the infrastructure businesses need to capitalise on Bangladesh’s location, and it will require effort to attract new industries and the skills transfer that comes with them.

Though the garment industry is likely to provide the backbone of the economy for some time to come, it’s encouraging to see that companies making goods as diverse as camera lenses, shoes, mobile phone components and car parts have chosen to set up plants in the EPZs. Local entrepreneurs and investors from Canada to Taiwan are starting to recognise Bangladesh’s potential as a location for light engineering, shipbuilding, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals and ICT. Samsung’s recent opening of a research and development centre in Dhaka is a good case in point.

Like many local businesspeople, HSBC is watching with great interest as the governments of India and Bangladesh negotiate greater access to each other’s road, rail, sea and air transport networks. For India, a deal will improve domestic links to its north-eastern states. For Bangladesh, it could help the country become a regional centre for trade and manufacturing, a gateway to the sea for Nepal and Bhutan, and the hub of a trans-Asia highway connecting India to China and South-East Asia.

Looking eastwards, Bangladesh is positioning itself to boost trade with China as China rebalances its economy from exports to sustainable domestic demand. Last year, HSBC helped a customer in the Dhaka EPZ to buy yarn from China in Chinese Renminbi. This deal was another sign of things to come, as Bangladeshi firms seek to cement relationships with Chinese partners, cut transaction costs and hedge foreign exchange risk in what is set to be the next global currency.

Clearly, I have to be balanced in my conversations with overseas companies. Bangladesh must ensure power supplies and communications networks are robust, for example, and it must recognise the competitive strengths of neighbours such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Pakistan.

As I also tell them, however, it’s clear to me that there are few people who can match Bangladeshis for their resilience in the face of a challenge. If this country continues to reinforce its links with the developed world, while deepening relationships in the emerging markets, it has every reason to demand attention in biggest corporate boardrooms.

Noel Quinn is the head of commercial banking for HSBC Asia-Pacific and group general manager for HSBC Holdings.

Surface plants to meet 70pc water demand

The Daily Star 26 May 2012

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) will be able to collect 70 percent water from surface water treatment plants within 2021, significantly reducing the dependency on the fast depleting underground water reserves, Managing Director Taqsem A Khan said yesterday.

“We have already taken a decision to increase the number of surface water treatment plants, considering the falling underground water level. We have taken four projects for this plan, while one was implemented and the rest will be executed gradually”, he said.

Dhaka Wasa is now collecting 87 percent water from the underground sources and only 13 percent from the surface water treatment plants, Taqsem told The Daily Star when asked.

Earlier, he told a seminar yesterday that Wasa shifted its focus from underground water treatment plants to surface water plants to protect the environmental balance.

Bangladesh Paribesh Andalon (Bapa) and Dhaka Wasa jointly organised the seminar, “Dhaka Wasa: activities, challenge and citizens’ expectations”, at the capital’s Cirdap auditorium.

Former chairman of Wasa and urban specialist Prof Nazrul Islam said Wasa must ensure proper supply of water before the people were forced into besieging its office.

He also suggested Wasa activities should be discontinued in Narayanganj, Tongi, and Gazipur, as these areas were now under city corporations. The services should not be extended also to Savar and Ashulia so that the city dwellers get more benefits, he added.

Speaking as a special guest, Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed, founder of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra, said the Wasa authorities should divide its activities into at least six or seven zones for improved services.

Although it seemed that Wasa activities have been making progress, Dhaka City Corporation and Rajuk’s performances are perhaps worsening gradually, he said.

Given that the underground water level has been going down two to three metres each year, it will be tough to live in Dhaka city in the near future due to a lack of water, said Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal, lawmaker of Dhaka-11.

Addressing as chief guest, he urged the city dwellers to be more considerate in using water and requested not to make any waste.

Firoz Ahmed, a water resources expert, said that due to inefficient water distribution system of Wasa, there was a continued system loss, which eventually deprived people of water.

Bapa president ASM Shahjahan chaired the seminar, while representatives from some development organisations and Wasa also spoke.

Plastic pipe market thrives with time

The Daily Star, 26 May 2012

An increase in tube-well installation fuels demand for plastic pipes and encourages firms like Navana, Bengal and Gazi to invest more in the sector.

The market for non-biodegradable plastic pipes has seen a steady rise since it became an alternative to iron pipes in 1985.

Initially, the market consisted entirely of Old Dhaka-based small-scale manual factories, said Moniruzzaman Panna, managing director of Aziz Pipes, one of the oldest pipe makers.

But the landscape started to change as large firms — RFL (Rangpur Foundry Ltd) and National Polymer — were lured in by the growing demand for tube wells thanks to a rise in construction of new buildings.

Industry insiders said the annual market demand for plastic pipes stands between 80,000 tonnes and 125,000 tonnes, and has been growing by 15-20 percent over the past three years.

“The market for plastic pipes is expanding and we expect it to grow in the coming years,” said Atiur Rahman, assistant general manager of Navana Engineering, a concern of Navana Group.

Earlier this year, Navana started producing plastic pipes as water supply accessories. “We will also enter the sanitation and sewerage segment in four months,” Rahman said.

“Plastic pipes are cheaper and last longer than iron pipes, which get rusty after some years,” said Kamruzzaman Kamal, a director in the market leader Pran-RFL Group.

“There is scope for business as the market is growing with the increasing pace of urbanisation and expansion of cities and towns,” said Habibur Rahman, general manager of Bengal Plastic Pipes Ltd, a concern of Bengal Group of Industries.

The entry of more large companies in the market will enhance competition and raise the quality of products, Rahman said.

“Small factories that once ruled the market will gradually be lost to the competition,” he said ruefully.

Many small-cottage based factories were driven out of business in recent years, said Panna of Aziz Pipes.

Largest limestone reserve discovered

The Daily Star, 5 June 2012

The Geological Survey of Bangladesh yesterday discovered a limestone deposit in Panchbibi upazila of Joypurhat.

Moonira Akhter Chowdhury, Director General, Geological Survey of Bangladesh, told The Daily Star that the limestone deposit appears to be the largest discovered so far in the country.

Limestone is a key ingredient for making cement and Chowdhury believes that if the deposit is as big as the indicators are saying, it could meet the demand for limestone in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh depends largely on imported limestone.

“On the basis of scientific indications we can say that this is going to be a much bigger deposit than the old find in Jamalganj of Joypurhat and hopefully, it will also be feasible to mine,” the DG said over the telephone.

She said it was too early to specify the size of the deposit. “It will take one more month to ascertain the total reserve…”

The Geological Survey, which has made most of the coal, limestone, hard rock and peat discoveries in the country since the 1950s, yesterday struck limestone 456.6 metres below the ground. It drilled 5.5 metres further into the layer, which indicated that the layer was thick.

She said as the geologists were drilling deep, they were hoping that the layer would expand more. “The basin seems bigger,” she said.

In the 1960s, the then Geological Survey of Pakistan discovered a large limestone deposit in Jamalganj of Joypurhat. The deposit was between 518.16 metres and 548.64 metres under the ground.

Later, studies revealed that 270 million tonnes of limestone were there and 100 million tonnes of it could be mined.

However, the mine was later deemed financially unviable as the cost to control the underground temperature would have been too expensive and the layer was pretty far below the surface.

Yesterday’s discovery was much closer to the surface.

LIMESTONE IN BANGLADESH
In 1961, the Geological Survey of Pakistan found limestone deposits in Bagalibazar-Takerghat-Bhangerghat area of Sunamganj. The total deposit of around 30 million tonnes was found in four locations at depths between six metres and 100 metres.

At Takerghat, at least 612,371 tonnes of limestone were mined between 1972 and 1993, according to the Geological Survey of Bangladesh.

In the 60′s, limestone deposits were found in Bogra (nearly 2,000 metres below the surface), in Patnitala of Naogaon (300 metres below the surface), Paharpur of Joypurhat (500 metres below the surface) and in Jamalganj of Joypurhat.

In 1966, Fried Krupp Roshtoff of Germany undertook a feasibility study of limestone mining in Jamalganj and found the mine was economically feasible. In 1969 the government undertook a mining project that was never launched.

In 1978, the Geological Survey of Bangladesh came up with a fresh analysis saying that the Jamalganj deposit had 100 million tonnes of mineable limestone covering a 6.7 square km area.

However, the project was abandoned due to the high cost involved in controlling the underground temperature.

AWD irrigation system saves Tk 5000 in paddy cultivation on one hectare

bunissnews.net, 5 June 2012

DHAKA, June 5 (BSS)- Irrigation Experts said that Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) irrigation system applied in 91 upazilas in the country this year saved about Taka 5,000 in paddy cultivation on per hectare of land.

The National Agriculture Technology Project (NATP) under Agriculture Ministry is applying the AWD irrigation system following a survey revealed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), they said.

“It’s a good news that the AWD irrigation system applied in 91 upzilas of the country in the fiscal 2011-12 has saved a substantial amount of irrigation cost involved in paddy cultivation on one hectare of land, said Director of NATP Nurul Islam.

He said the amount is more than double the IRRI estimated irrigation cost saving of Taka 1,765 three years back and more upazilas of the country would be brought under NATP to apply AWD irrigation in the coming years.

Sources in NATP said the IRRI has developed a technology able to save up to 30 per cent of water use in the production of rice without compromising yields.

Called AWD for Alternate Wetting and Drying, this intermittent irrigation technology is the result of an international partnership of China, the Philippines and Bangladesh, through the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC), they said adding financed by the SDC since 1997, IRRC facilitates cross-country learning and diffusion of new rice production technologies in Asia.

The AWD technology is being applied in paddy cultivation since fiscal 2008-2009 after getting a go ahead signal from IRRI.

The IRRI survey revealed that the cost savings in paddy cultivation is Taka 1,765 in per hectare. It (IRRI) showed that an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 litres of water is required to produce one kilogram of rice.

Nurul Islam said the AWD technology was applied in 91 upazilas of the country for paddy cultivation in the fiscal 2011- 12. The result showed that on an average irrigation cost savings stood at Taka 5,000 in per hectare of land, which is more than double of the IRRI estimated cost.

NATP director said the AWD irrigation system saved 32 per cent water on an average in one hectare of land in paddy cultivation while it (AWD) saved power cost by about 30 per cent and production increased to 1.6 metric tonnes per hectare.

The IRRI research has proven that introduction of AWD irrigation could save water in paddy cultivation about 15-30 per cent which would ultimately save cultivation cost by at least Taka 1,765 per hectare of land.

Describing the process of cultivation, Head of Agriculture Engineering Department Dr. Asgar Ali said starting from about 15 days after transplanting, the irrigation would have to continue until the water table goes 20 cm below the ground level.

Digging of a 20 cm deep hole in the rice field and installing a perforated plastic pipe to monitor the level of the water table are required in each irrigation field, said Dr. Asgar.

He said the practice should continue until flowering starts and keeps 2-4 cm standing water from flowering to dough stage. The savings of irrigation water will have impact on environment. This may also reduce arsenic contamination in rice grain and straw, Asgar Ali said.