Siddhirganj power plant capacity raised to 450mw

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=129646&date=2011-03-18

Siddhirganj power plant capacity raised to 450mw
Project re-designed to get WB support

FHM Humayan Kabir

The government has increased the capacity of Siddhirganj power plant to 450 megawatt (mw) instead of the earlier 300mw to get World Bank’s financial support, officials said Thursday.

Power Division officials said the Electricity Generation Company Bangladesh (EGCB) has re-designed the scheme and has sought approval of the government’s highest economic decision making body, ECNEC.

“We have already sent the revised proposal to the planning ministry for getting approval of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC),” acting Managing Director of EGCB Shantiram Rai told the FE.

He said they have also sent two responsive bids to the World Bank (WB) for getting its concurrence for the revised 450mw scheme, to be bankrolled by the global lender.

The EGCB has enhanced power generation capacity of the Siddhirganj project revising its cost at Tk 4.15 billion instead of Tk 2.07 billion, estimated earlier for 300mw plant, a Power Division official said.

The Washington-based lender refused to finance the 300mw Siddhirganj peaking power plant for reservation on the qualified bidder, selected for awarding installation work in 2009.

The WB said it will not disburse its committed $ 200 million fund for the 300mw Siddhirganj project as the government-selected bidder quoted the Bank’s blacklisted “Siemens brand” machinery for the power plant.

The global lender in 2008 had confirmed $ 350 million loans for installing 300mw Siddhirganj peaking power station and for two other projects – a gas supply pipeline to the plant and a power transmission grid from the plant.

After re-structuring the project, the EGCB had invited tenders. Two firms submitted bids. It has sent the technical and financial offers of the two bidders to the World Bank office for getting its concurrence.

“We are waiting for concurrence of the World Bank. If it allows the qualified bidder, we will offer them the power plant construction work,” Mr Rai said.

We have planned to complete the re-structured Siddhirganj 450mw plant construction work by June 2014, he added.

Considering severe power plunges in the Dhaka city, the government in 2007 had undertaken the Siddhirganj 300mw peaking power station for installation by 2012 and signed a $ 350 million credit deal with the global lender.

When the WB refused to fund Siddhirganj power project, the government fell into a deep trouble as the said project is one of the top priority projects for stamping out the ongoing electricity supply plunge.

In September last year, the WB came forward with its new proposal of re-structuring the project to 450mw scrapping the original 300mw design.

Bangladesh’s fast growing economy has seen power demand sharply outstripping supply, resulting in frequent power outages, voltage fluctuations and losses in economic output estimated at nearly $ 1.0 billion a year.

While the economy has grown by an average of 6.0 per cent a year since 2005, less than half the population of 156 million has access to power. Unreliable power supply hurts industry and hampers efforts to provide better economic opportunities and social services for the poor.

The WB official said following severe power outages in Bangladesh, the Bank has decided to bankroll the re-structured 450mw plant from its earlier design.

Footwear exports rise 48pc

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Footwear exports rise 48pc
Sayeda Akter

Footwear exports marked a 48 percent rise in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, Export Promotion Bureau statistics show.

The country fetched around $197 million from such exports during July-February, a sharp rise from $133 million in the same period a year ago.

During this period, leather exports increased by 34 percent and earned $176.46 million, while leather goods marked a whooping 152.6 percent rise.

Industry insides said the growth is fuelled by a rise in the prices of raw materials across the world.

China is currently failing to produce high quality shoes at competitive prices due to the WTO anti-dumping rules. So, orders from Germany, Italy, France, Japan and Canada are shifting to Bangladesh, said the footwear businessmen.

Saiful Islam, president of Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh, said the main reason behind the growth is a steady rise in demands for the Bangladesh-made footwear items.

“The growth is driven by a rise in demand for our footwear, after orders were shifted from China to Bangladesh.”

On the other hand, Bangladesh has mastered in producing low-cost but high-quality shoes, Islam added. “Also we can maintain a short lead time, as we have our own stocks of leather.”

He said: “These things pulled European orders mainly to India, Vietnam and Bangladesh.”

Bangladesh also offers competitive prices, which have increased the demand globally, said Islam, managing director of Picard Bangladesh Ltd.

“The cost of making leather shoes is lower in Bangladesh than that in China and India.”

Currently, the local market of leather footwear stands at around Tk 1,800 crore, of which about 45 percent is exported. The country exports around six million pairs of leather footwear a year.

The increasing prices of raw materials in the international market have made the products a pricey and fuelled the total export, said Tipu Sultan, director of Bengal Leather Complex Ltd.

He also said the demand for Bangladeshi shoes increased manifold in the last two years.

New export destinations also helped, he added. Along with the traditional markets such as Italy, Germany and Japan, local exporters are now selling products to China and Hong Kong.

sayeda@thedailystar.net

S’pore firm offers to raise Mongla port use capacity

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=129531&date=2011-03-17

S’pore firm offers to raise Mongla port use capacity
$750m investment proposed

Syful Islam

A Singaporean company has proposed to invest $750 million to develop the Mongla port with a view to raising the utilisation of the port’s capacity, officials said Wednesday.

Port Evolution Management Limited (Port-Evo), an agent of Singaporean port consultancy firm, David Wignall Associates, has submitted a proposal in this regard to the Ministry of Shipping recently.

Earlier, Port-Evo and the Mongla Port Authority had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on submitting a proposal for the proposed development work.

The Ministry of Shipping on last Tuesday evaluated the report and asked Port-Evo to submit a detailed report in this connection through consultation with the Mongla Port Authority (MPA), sources added.

According to the proposal, the company will carry out necessary dredging to increase the depth of rivers adjacent to Mongla port, establish power plant to supply uninterrupted electricity for port activities, establish terminals, warehouse, cold storage, water treatment plant and an industrial zone in the area.

In return, the company wants to operate and maintain the port for 30 years, it was learnt.

Currently, only 10 per cent capacity of the Mongla port is being utilised despite the government’s efforts to raise it operation level. According to the present policy, 40 per cent of the government-imported food grains and fertilisers are to be unloaded through Mongla Port.

Last month, the Ministry of Shipping sought cooperation of ministries and departments concerned for increased use of Mongla port’s capacity by handling 40 per cent of imported fertilisers and food grains.

The Mongla port handled loading-unloading of 1.64 million tonnes of goods through 190 ships in fiscal year 2009-10 against 1.13 million tonnes of goods through 151 ships in 2008-09. During the last 10-year period, the port handled the highest 455 ships in FY 2004-05.

Secretary of the Ministry of Shipping Abdul Mannan Howlader told the FE Wednesday that they have received a proposal from Port-Evo, some provisions of which are not relevant to the port’s development.

“We have asked them to submit a revised and specific proposal concentrating on the port’s development,” he added.

Mr Howlader said that the ministry had been receiving a lot of proposals for development of the underused Mongla port.

“We are scrutinising the proposals and responding to those which are economically profitable,” he said.

Saudis set to employ big number of Bangladeshis

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Saudis set to employ big number of Bangladeshis
KSA team due in city to hold ‘recruitment’ talks

Syful Islam

Saudi Arabia is set to end its “unofficial” freeze on large-scale recruitment of unskilled workers from Bangladesh, boosting hopes that Dhaka will reclaim its top position in the Kingdom’s job market, officials said Thursday.

The Middle Eastern country almost halted employing Bangladeshi unskilled workers for the last three years, raising speculation about a diplomatic rough patch between the two majority Muslim nations.

Riyadh had recruited more than 2.5 million Bangladeshi workers since it opened its job doors to Dhaka in 1976. The number accounts for more than 40 per cent of the overseas jobs Bangladeshis have found in the past three and half a decades.

But in the last three years, total recruitment in the Kingdom came down to a few thousands. The head of the last caretaker government and the current prime minister visited Riyadh during the period, but there has been no progress in recruitment.

Officials said a delegation of Saudi Arabian National Recruitment Committee (Sanarcom) will visit Dhaka in the first week of April to discuss with the government and local recruiters in a bid to resume hiring manpower from Bangladesh “in a full swing”.

“I am hopeful the visit of Sanarcom delegation will help regain the lost manpower job market,” President of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Mohammed Abul Basher said.

Mr. Basher said more than 250,000 workers, mainly female house-maid, drivers and farm labourers can get jobs in the Kingdom in the next two years. “We hope the recruitment may begin as early as June.”

Last year only 7,069 Bangladeshis have found jobs in Saudi Arabia. The figure was only 1.8 per cent of the country’s total overseas employment in 2010.

Mr. Basher said Qatar will also employ tens of thousands of construction workers from Bangladesh as the tiny Gulf kingdom plans to build nine state-of-the-art stadiums in the next ten years to host the World Cup football in 2022.

“They will require a huge number of foreign workers to construct the stadiums and build other infrastructures related to the showpiece soccer event. We are hopeful Qatar will recruit bulk of the foreign workers from Bangladesh,” he said.

“Once Saudis resume recruiting from Bangladesh, Kuwait and Qatar will also follow suit. These Muslim nations, all member of Gulf Cooperation Council, largely toe Saudi Arabia’s policy in terms of overseas recruitment,” he added.

Last year only 48 Bangladeshis get job in Kuwait despite soldiers from Bangladesh fought in the first Gulf War in 1990 to liberate the Emirate. Qatar recruited 12,085 out of the total 390,702 Bangladeshis went abroad to work in 2010.

“Saudi Arabia has already announced building a new industrial city near Jeddah, which will be home to 2.5 million people. They need Bangladeshi workers to build the city and all the factories there in time,” said top recruiter Reaz -ul- Islam.

“They need both skilled and unskilled people. Because of this new demand, we hope this year more than 500,000 Bangladeshis will get jobs abroad – some 80 per cent of them will be employed in the Middle Eastern countries,” he added.

Expatriates’ Welfare Secretary Zafar Ahmed Khan said they are waiting for a good piece of news from Riyadh. “We are working hard to restart manpower export to Saudi Arabia in full swing,” he said.”

From 1976 to 2010 a total of 2,580,198 Bangladeshi went to Saudi Arabia with jobs, 479,619 to Kuwait and 167,808 to Qatar representing 40 per cent and seven and two per cent of the country’s total overseas employment respectively.

The unofficial Saudi freeze on large-scale recruitment has exacted a heavy toll on Bangladeshi overseas job opportunities and affected the country’s economic health. Last year the number came down to five-year low.

A record 875,055 Bangladeshis found jobs abroad in 2008. But the number drastically came down in the last two years when only 476,278 and 390,702 got overseas jobs.

The fall has also impacted on the country’s remittance in the current fiscal year. In the first eight months to February, remittance inflow posted a meagre 2.49 per cent growth, creating a crisis of foreign exchange components among private banks.

Bangladesh economy: 40 years on

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Third Eye
Bangladesh economy: 40 years on

Photo: id work /getty images

Mamun Rashid

Last week, I had some interesting discussions with a few of the shakers and movers of Bangladesh economy during the last 40 years. Most of them played a direct role in our war of liberation and had something to do with transition or crisis management of our economy.

While many of them gave credit to inward remittance, productivity improvement in agriculture, economic liberalisation since the nineties, success of our apparel industry, some of them also gave credit to shift in global political and economic imperatives, change in the economic structure of our society, role of the development partners, significant role played by education and overseas travel as well as migration by much more Bangladeshis, than one could anticipate. One or two of them also pointed to lessons learned from famine in 1974, improvement in the communication sector, especially increase of cell phone users.

Most of the developed nations and international aid agencies barely had any interest in stepping into Bangladesh during the early seventies. However, Bangladesh managed to march on, despite natural disasters and political turbulence at frequent intervals. But as it progresses, one of its core productive sectors, agriculture, started to get overshadowed by industrialisation. Investors started to shy away and so did our human resources.

In 1974, the agriculture sector took a massive hit from a famine that lasted for ten months. Naturally, food security became a high priority. After more than a decade, the cloud finally began to move away as food production started to gain momentum. Most of this success can be traced to the introduction of high-yielding modern varieties (MV) of rice. Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) has so far released fifty-seven MVs (53 inbred and 4 hybrids). The MVs developed in the 1980s and 1990s are suitable for varying ecosystems and have wide disease and insect resistance.

In the meantime, ready made garments (RMG) industry started to emerge slowly yet noticeably and pushed industrialisation to further dominate the country’s GDP. From the ’90s to 2010, industrial production occupied a new height, at 30% from 20%, whereas agricultural production slipped to below 20%.

Enhanced access to education greatly helped to achieve gender balance, impacting both social and economic activities. This, along with continuous reduction in poverty and improved health service, illustrated a completely reworked picture of Bangladesh.

The 1974 famine, as mentioned earlier, pushed people, especially in rural Bangladesh, to look for increasing their earnings, hence they started to look at overseas job markets, especially in the Middle East. Today, almost 8 million Bangladeshis are working abroad and inward remittances, mostly from the blue collar workers, has become the mainstay of our economy, more importantly rural economy.

The wind of change all over certainly started to move things positively; starting from the change in public mindset to policy makers. For more than two decade after the liberation war, the female population was confined to household affairs. This huge workforce slowly but surely came to realise their potential in the early ’90s. The trend became too important not to be noticed by various international aid agencies or development partners, when 60%-70% of the female population gradually started to contribute to national GDP. On the other hand, the agricultural sector also managed to maintain noticeable growth.

We saw the spectacular rise of Bangladesh entrepreneurship during 1985 to 2010. Small and medium enterprises (SME) improved the situation to a great extent. NGOs/MFIs played a significant role in facilitating rural entrepreneurship.

Changed global development imperatives, including change in the mindset of the senior management of the development agencies, also helped Bangladesh to remodel its development agenda, continuously creating opportunity for private sector operators to take a lead. No doubt it was very tough to manage this transition, if not toughest for Bangladesh, where “contribution to society,” “public interest” or even “democracy” have different meanings to different people.

Even the rise of the media (print and electronic, more importantly electronic) helped in shaping the people’s mindset, transition to democracy and crises management, especially during the last decade or so. Bangladesh (with credit going to some bi-lateral aid agencies) also managed to significantly improve her crisis management capability during the last 10-15 years.

However, Bangladesh needs to move on, needs to move faster than before to keep its 160 million people (increasing by around 1.4% each year) fed, when we are losing almost 1% of our agricultural land to habitat and industrialisation. 7% to 8% GDP growth necessitates massive investment in the manufacturing sector, and for that we need power, gas, roads, railways, bridges and other infrastructures.

We need to have clear visibility regarding drawing a balance between the agriculture, industry and manufacturing sectors. We also need to put our act together to reduce increasing regional disparity, and strengthen local government, civil administration and the judiciary. In order to get into the trajectory of a middle income country, the laundry list should also include improving overall health and education infrastructure, and access to international funding sources to finance the growth of infrastructure. Drastic improvement in our governance model and political tolerance is also very much needed for policy continuity and sustainable growth.

Bangladesh is no more a “bottomless basket” that we used to be labeled as. With respectable social fabric, above average work ethics, increasing women’s engagement, almost independent media and civil society, it is becoming a “Development Paradox,” if it has not already become one. The international community, and more importantly our “peers,” is watching us. Let us all rise to the expectation of the times.

The writer is a banker and economic analyst. E-mail: mamun1960@gmail.com

BSTI launches energy efficient equipment making project

http://www.daily-sun.com/?view=details&type=daily_sun_news&pub_no=159&cat_id=1&menu_id=3&news_type_id=1&index=2&archiev=yes&arch_date=17-03-2011

BSTI launches energy efficient equipment making project

Industries Minister Dilip Barua, inaugurating a project titled ‘Barrier Removal to the Cost Effective Development and Implementation of Energy Efficiency Standards and Labeling’ at a city hotel yesterday.

Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh Standard Testing Institute (BSTI) has launched a project in a bid to make people aware of using energy saving technology to combat the existing power crunch.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supported project will provide the people with infrastructural support in production and import of energy saving equipment to minimise greenhouse gas emission for a more protected environment.

Industries Minister Dilip Barua formally inaugurated the project titled ‘Barrier Removal to the Cost Effective Development and Imple-mentation of Energy Efficiency Stan-dards and Labeling’ at a city hotel yesterday.

Barua said, the grand-alliance government was committed to encourage environment-friendly industrialisation in the country. The government is prioritising pollution-free industries only, he added.

The government will extend its whole-hearted support to any energy saving and environment-friendly industrial project, the Industries Minister said adding that Bangladesh is one of the worst victims of global warming.

Industry Secretary KH Masud Siddiqui, Country representative UNDP Stefan Priesner, project director Abdul Matin also addressed the function presided over by BSTI director general AK Fazlul Ahad.

Project Manager Shahjahan Chowdhury presented a keynote paper highlighting the project.

Energy efficiency of air condition, refrigerator, electric fan and motor, ballast and CFL will be certified and labeled under the project, he said adding this project will also open the export possibility of the local products to neighbouring countries.

There is no alternative to using energy saving technology in order to address the power deficit, the keynote paper said adding much of world biodiversity has been hampered due to global warming.

UNDP is simul-taneously supporting the project in six Asian countries: China, Indo-nesia, Pakistan, Thiland, Vietnam and Bangladesh, spending US$7 million.

3 million dollars are being spent in Bangladesh—one million from UNDP and the rest from the national exchequer.

Bangladesh second best choice of Danish businessmen: Ambassador

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Bangladesh second best choice of Danish businessmen: Ambassador

DHAKA: Bangladesh has come out as the second best choice of Danish entrepreneurs as businessmen from Denmark showed their maximum interest in overseas business after Chinese trade hub Shanghai throughout the year 2010.

“End of every year, we conduct an internal survey among all Danish missions abroad to know intention about our entrepreneurs, intending to business overseas, and last year we found Bangladesh was made the second choice after Shanghai,” Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh Svend Olling told BSS in an exclusive interview yesterday.

The Danish envoy said it’s the clear indication of the fast growing business potentiality of Bangladesh to the foreign entrepreneurs.

Noting that the growth of business potentials of Bangladesh to the Danish entrepreneurs remain immense in last two years, The Danish Ambassador said, “We increase our commercial strength in this country four times last year and once in last two months of this year to fulfill the queries of our businessmen back home,” he said. —BSS

1000 MW electricity to be added to the national grid by this month: Tawfiq

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=167059&date=2011-03-16

1000 MW electricity to be added to the national grid by this month: Tawfiq

DHAKA, Mar 16 (BSS) – Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr. Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said today that government would add 1000 MW of electricity to the national grid by the end of this month.

“It would be possible to add this amount of electricity as 6 to 8 rental power plants are set to supply power by this time,” he said.

After a visit to 100 MW Desh Energy’s power plant at Shiddhirganj and 102 MW Summit Power Company’s plant at Madanganj, Tawfiq said government would be in a position to cope with the demand-supply situation in the power sector within next year.

He chaired a preparatory meeting with the officials and entrepreneurs for inaugurating these two power plants on March 20. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is expected to formally inaugurate the plants.

Power Division Secretary Mohammad Abul Kalam Azad, Chairman of Summit Group Aziz Khan, Chairman of Desh Energy Anisul Haque and other officials were present.

“The government inherited the power problems and it is trying to solve the crisis with the help of the private and foreign investors,’ the adviser said.

Both these power plants have been set up under government’s immediate action plan known as `quick rental power project.’

Desh Energy, a local company installed the diesel-fired power plant last month and started producing electricity on “test run Basis”. Summit Power started test run at its furnace oil based plant from (Tuesday) yesterday.

Power Development Board (PDB) signed the contract with Desh Energy about eight months back. Per unit (Kilowatt) cost of electricity from this plant would be TK 16 plus.

Summit Power Co completed this project within the schedule. However, the cost of per unit electricity from this plant is Tk 7 plus.

The PDB produces around 3900 MW electricity against the demand of around 5200 MW.

Intrepid travellers find Bangladesh a bargain

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Intrepid travellers find Bangladesh a bargain

In the picture taken on February 13, 2010, a Bangladeshi girl participates in a procession during the Boshonto Utshob festival in Dhaka. The spring festival or Boshonto Utshob, celebrated on the first day of the month of Falgun in the Bengali calendar, is marked with various cultural performances.Photo: AFP

Afp, Dhaka

From Argentinian heavy metal fans to Scottish retirees, Joyanta Howlader’s couch has hosted the full spectrum of backpackers who arrive — sometimes with mixed feelings — in impoverished Bangladesh.

The south Asian country seems an unlikely stop on a budget traveller’s itinerary, but foreign visitor arrivals are rising and Bangladesh’s lack of tourist infrastructure is, ironically, proving an attraction.

“You have to be adventurous. There is no other way to travel in Bangladesh,” said Howlader, a 38-year-old Dhaka-based television producer who has hosted dozens of tourists through Couch Surfing, a hospitality exchange network.

“One backpacker who stayed with me, just hated it here, said he’d never come back. He was a real tourist, he just wanted an easy travel experience which Bangladesh is definitely not,” Howlader told AFP.

With mod-cons now available in backpacker haunts in Thailand, Vietnam and India, where prices are shooting up, increasing numbers of budget tourists are seeking out alternative, low-cost travel experiences elsewhere in Asia.

From spending a night on a stranger’s sofa for free, sampling Dhaka’s best biryani for a dollar a plate, or checking into a midrange hotel for less than 10 dollars a night, Bangladesh is about as cheap and adventurous as it comes.

Even a four-day all-inclusive cruise through the world’s largest mangrove forest on a traditional wooden boat will only cost around 150 dollars, far cheaper than a comparable trip in neighbouring India, experts say.

Bangladesh is one of only a few places left in the region that still offer the original pioneering travel experience, according to Lonely Planet’s Bangladesh author Stuart Butler.

“It is very easy to get well off the beaten track and is a place in which you can make your own discoveries and travel for weeks without meeting another western tourist — or any tourist for that matter,” Butler told AFP.

The problems of getting around and finding accommodation, particularly for women, in the conservative, Muslim-majority nation are, for some travellers, Bangladesh’s unique selling point, he said.

“For many travellers this lack of knowledge of the country and the lack of a tourist industry is the prime reason for visiting. Travelling in Bangladesh is a genuine adventure,” he said.

Tourists are still something of a rarity in Bangladesh with just 267,107 foreign visitor arrivals in 2009, according to government figures which do not distinguish between tourist arrivals and Bangladeshis with foreign passports.

This is up from 2000, when 199,211 foreign visitors arrived in the south Asian nation of 160 million people, and local tourism industry figures say they anticipate further growth.

“Inbound tourism is growing more than 10 percent a year — a few years ago, no one had heard of Bangladesh, they thought it was part of India,” said Taufiquddin Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Tour Operators Association.

“The average spend for package tourists is now around 500 dollars, which is less than they would spend in India or Nepal,” he said. “And we get a lot of backpackers coming here and just travelling on their own.”

Travelling in Bangladesh, while not for the faint-hearted, is extremely cheap, with the 27-hour trip from Dhaka to Khulna on The Rocket, the country’s most famous river ferry, costing just 15 dollars for a first-class cabin.

From Khulna it is easy to access the Sunderbans mangrove forest, which is the country’s most popular attraction, although northern Srimongal district’s tea gardens are also attracting interest, he said.

The biggest problem for the local tourism industry is the lack of any concerted government effort to promote the country, such as the successful “Incredible India” and “Malaysia Truly Asia” campaigns, he said.

“Bangladesh suffers from a negative image, but slowly things are changing for the better,” he said.

Bangladesh is one of travel bible Lonely Planet’s “Best Value Destinations” for 2011.

And for Mickey Leung, author of the Bradt Guide book on Bangladesh, there is no point in trying to fight Bangladesh’s international reputation — instead, the industry should try to capitalise on it.

“We’re not going to get away from that image. There is going to be another cyclone, people are going to keep talking about climate change damage… you can’t just sit and hope it will go away,” he told AFP.

“Everybody knows Bangladesh is a poor country, so let’s take that image (and) make it like: your decision to travel to Bangladesh represents your decision to change the world,” he said.

The government should focus on building up pro-poor, community based eco-friendly tourism, for example by providing loans for setting up guesthouses for backpackers, he said.

“I would like to see budget travellers come to Bangladesh with an open mind, and with a willingness to experience local hospitality. They have to leave luxury behind.”

IBM plans to go big in Bangladesh

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IBM plans to go big in Bangladesh
Training planned for engineering students

Pradeep Nair, director of IBM Software Group for South Asia region, speaks at the first ever IBM software conclave in Bangladesh, “Smarter Software for Smarter Planet”, at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka yesterday.Photo: STAR

Star Business Report

IBM, the world’s largest provider of enterprise business software, is set to run free training programmes over the next three months for engineering students in Bangladesh to nurture batches of software developers in universities and research institutes.

“We will train the engineering students in IBM software at absolutely no cost in collaboration with the country’s engineering colleges and universities to enhance their knowledge,” said Pradeep Nair, director of IBM Software Group for South Asia region.

Nair spoke at the Software Universe, the first ever IBM software conclave in Bangladesh, called “Smarter Software for Smarter Planet” at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka.

The company has planned to start the training programme for the engineering students of Bangladesh over the next three months to build a community of software experts and thought leaders in Bangladesh, said Nair.

“The country has a huge prospect for software industry because Gartner has recently listed Bangladesh as one of the top 30 software outsourcing destinations in the world,” said Gaurav Agarwal, a regional general manager of IBM Software.

Agarwal said IBM wants to invest in the IT sector of Bangladesh due to its rising economy and booming exports.

Besides, the country has around 70 million phone subscribers, with the numbers growing every month, he added.

Today, businesses across the world are going digital, infusing intelligence into everything from cars and roadways to agriculture, power grids and even clothes. However, this digitisation brings with it a number of challenges that can only be handled with the help of smarter software which are quick and easy to implement, flexible, scalable, robust and cost-effective in the long run, said Nair.

IBM, which operates in more than 170 countries, has a plan to work with the governmental agencies of Bangladesh to implement cutting edge e-governance programmes. They also want to partner with the country’s banking industry to help implement BASEL guidelines, said Agarwal.

Agarwal said, “IBM also plans to replicate the success stories like Bharti and Idea to propel the Bangladesh telecom industry to newer heights.

At Software Universe, the company discussed IBM’s portfolio of ready-to-work solutions. Business Partners also joined the conclave to gain insight into how to increase profit margins.

IBM that boasts $21 billion in annual software sales showcased its different software solutions such as Lotus, Tivoli, Web Sphere, Information Management, Rational, Business Analytics, and Industry Solutions to the business partners at the daylong conclave.

They also launched its smarter software portfolio which is completely integrated with its hardware and services offerings, giving customers flexibility and efficiency in business processes, empowering better decision making and enabling to work smart.

IBM has been doing business in Bangladesh in partnership with Thakral Information Systems since 1998.

Khulna Shipyard starts building gun-ships

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Khulna Shipyard starts building gun-ships
Staff Correspondent, Khulna

Khulna Shipyard has started constructing five gun-ships at a cost of Tk 300 crore in cooperation with China and expected to complete the work by December 2013.

Earlier on March 5, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the construction works during her visit to the shipyard that is run by Bangladesh Navy since 1999.

The shipyard’s Managing Director Commodore Riazuddin Ahmed said they had so far paid Tk 24 crore to the National Board of Revenue in income taxes and value-added taxes.

The company built 75 new medium- and small-sized commercial ships and repaired 221 old ships since 1999. “We have opened a academy to build up skilled manpower where SSC passed students will get admission to be trained in technical works,” he said.

He also hoped the shipyard will be able to build export quality modern ships in future.

PM opens 100 MW power plant at Shiddhirganj on March 20

http://www.bssnews.net/newsDetails.php?cat=0&id=166686&date=2011-03-14

PM opens 100 MW power plant at Shiddhirganj on March 20

DHAKA, March 14 (BSS) – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate a 100 MW “quick rental” power plant at Shiddhirganj on March 20.

Desh Energy, a local company, implemented the diesel-fired power plant last month and producing power on a “test-run basis”.

Power Development Board (PDB) signed the contract with Desh Energy about eight months back. Per unit cost of electricity from this plant will be Taka 16 plus.

“According to the agreement, the plant should come into operation within four months from the agreement signing date. However, we are behind the schedule,” a PDB senior official told BSS.

At present, the PDB is producing around 3900 to 4100 MW electricity against the demand of around 5200 MW.

Pvt firm plans to set up BD’s first geothermal power plant

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Pvt firm plans to set up BD’s first geothermal power plant
Project to produce 200mw using warm groundwater in Thakurgaon

Monira Munni

A private company has planned to set up the country’s first geothermal power plant with a capacity to produce 200 megawatt by exploiting the country’s warm groundwater, company officials said Saturday.

Anglo MGH Energy said it has sought government approval to estbalish the plant at Salandar village in the impoverished northern district of Thakurgain.

The Dhaka-based company plans to dig 28 deep tube wells to lift hot steam, whose temperature will be at least 12 degree celsius.

The lifted and pressured steam will be channeled into a turbine which is linked to a generator for turning it to produce electricity.

Officials of the company said they have found ideal sites in Thakurgaon to generate 200 mw of electricity, which they say will greatly reduce acute power shortages in northern districts.

“We are now waiting for the government’s approval for exploration license,” Md Abdur Rahim, a director of the company, told the FE.

He said the company has done primary feasibility studies on the plan and will conduct a final one shortly on a span of 3,555 hectares of land to select the spot for the plant.

“It will be the first geothermal plant in Bangladesh. Our studies have shown that some northern districts are ideal place for harnessing hot ground water to generate power,” he added.

At present 24 countries have geothermal power plants including China, Ireland, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Turkey and the United States.

According to the International Geothermal Association, the US is the largest geothermal power producer in the world with the capacity of 2,544 mw followed by the Philippines with 1,931 mw.

Experts said geothermal is a renewable energy source and costs less than most of the fuel-powered power plants. It also requires less amount of land and needs only a handful of manpower.

A 200 mw gas-fired power plant can cost $150-200 million dollars. By contrast, a geothermal power plant with similar capacity can be set up at one third of that cost, at the most.

Mr. Rahim said the company has recently applied to the power and energy ministry, seeking a licence to produce geothermal power.

Already it has secured favourable opinions from the Geological Survey of Bangladesh, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Environment and Forest.

The district administration in Thakurgaon, home to one of the poorest communities in the country, has also cleared the project. “We have sent no objection certificates to the ministries,” said Md Shahiduzzaman, district deputy commissioner.

The company moved to set up the plant following a ground-breaking study by a specialist at the Dhaka-based Institute of Water Modelling.

Mizanur Rahman, senior groundwater expert of IWM, first came up with the idea to build a geothermal power plant in Thakurgaon after he studied water temperature of the district for years.

In his study he found that the water coming out of a deep tubewell in Thakurgaon was warmer by at least 12 degrees Celsius than that of any other tubewells.

He also collected data from different countries and has since published a research paper on geothermal resource potential in Thakurgaon.

Exports grow 40pc

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Exports grow 40pc

Workers iron clothes at a garment factory in Gazipur. Woven garment exports grew 37.95 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period a year ago.Photo: STAR

Star Business Report

Exports grew by 40.28 percent in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period a year ago, the government said yesterday.

According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the country exported goods worth $14.08 billion during July-February of fiscal 2010-11, up from $10.31 billion in the same period of 2009-10.

In February alone, exports grew by 43.33 percent to $1.89 billion, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to government data.

The EPB report shows exports of major products — knitwear, woven, jute and jute goods, home textile, frozen foods, shrimp, leather goods — have grown significantly during July-February period.

Among the major exported products, in the first eight months of the current fiscal year, the knitwear sector earned $5.80 billion, which is a 43.93 percent rise from the same period in the previous year.

Woven garment exports grew 37.95 percent to $5.13 billion, compared to the same-year-ago-period. At the same time, products such as tea, chemical products, bicycle, furniture, engineering products and petroleum by-products showed negative growth.

However, EPB set a target to earn $18.5 billion for the current fiscal year, which is 14.16 percent more than the actual earnings last year. During 2009-10, the total export earnings were $16.2 billion against a target of $17.6 billion, which was 4.11 percent higher than the 2008-2009 earnings.

On the growth of exports of the country, EPB vice-chairman Jalal Ahmed said 40 percent export growth has been maintained over the last few months, which is a positive sign in the overseas trade of the country.

The export of jute and jute goods has been increasing thanks to higher demand, part of the reason for higher growth in exports out of Bangladesh. The export of jute and jute goods grew by 51.04 percent to $734.39 million during July-February compared to the same period of the last year.

Moreover, the exports to the EU are growing significantly because of relaxed rules of origin under the generalised system of preferences (GSP), Ahmed said. The EU’s relaxed rules for the least developed countries came into effect from January 1.

Exports are increasing mainly for higher exports to new destinations and because buyers are shifting to Bangladesh from China, the largest apparel supplying country worldwide, said Abdus Salam Murshedy, president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

But the steady export growth is dependent on uninterrupted supply of gas and power to the industrial units and improved port management system, he added.

Salim Osman, president of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, linked the export growth to product diversification. Buyers have now more choices in Bangladesh, which was not possible earlier, he said.

Bangladesh to produce 500 MW power from solar system

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Bangladesh to produce 500 MW power from solar system

DHAKA, Mar 14 (BSS) – Bangladesh has set a target to produce 500 MW of electricity installing solar home systems to reduce greenhouse emissions and ensure sustainable development in energy sector.

It also plans to install solar irrigation system to cut diesel cost.

To use Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s fund in solar power project, Bangladesh set the target of electricity generation from solar energy.

“To ensure energy security and to reduce carbon emission we have taken up a massive programme to implement renewable energy, energy conservation plan,” Adviser to the Prime Minister Dr.Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said.

ADB is set to support 3000 MW capacity power project in Asia-Pacific region. To get benefit from it, Bangladesh has prepared its programme in collaboration with NGOs.

Bangladesh has achieved a landmark achievement in implementing renewable energy expansion programme through installing solar home systems across the country.

Every month, more than 36,000 solar home systems are being installed adding one and half MW of electricity. Just one and half years back about 12,000 systems were installed every month.

According to the power division, Bangladesh made a pledge at Washington International Renewable Energy Conference, 2008 that about five per cent of its total electricity generation will come from renewable sources by 2015.